This study investigates how the adoption of IFRS in Australia has changed the accounting for goodwill and identifiable intangible assets (IIA). Based on unique hand‐collected data for 802 Australian firm‐years during 2000–2010, we find that expenses related to IIA are higher under IFRS, which is consistent with the view that IFRS accounting policies for IIA are stricter than those under Australian domestic accounting standards pre‐2005 (AGAAP). Our results show two effects that accompany higher IIA expenses under IFRS, which reduce a negative impact on earnings: (i) lower goodwill expenses, and (ii) a shift in recognition of IIA from those with finite useful life to IIA with indefinite useful life. Finally, our market value analyses suggest that the market does not treat mechanical goodwill amortization as a genuine expense, but does treat as genuine expenses discretionary impairment charges, and more lenient IIA amortization under AGAAP. Our results are in line with prior Australian studies claiming that imposing stricter accounting rules for intangible assets under IFRS tends to diminish the quality of investors' information set.

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无形资产会计的演变：来自澳大利亚的证据

这项研究调查了澳大利亚如何采用国际财务报告准则改变了商誉和可辨认无形资产（IIA）的会计处理。根据2000-2010年间802个澳大利亚公司年度的手工收集的独特数据，我们发现在IFRS下与IIA有关的费用更高，这与以下观点一致：IFRS的IIA会计政策比澳大利亚国内会计政策更为严格2005年前的标准（AGAAP）。我们的结果表明，根据国际财务报告准则，IIA费用增加会带来两个影响，从而减少了对收益的负面影响：（i）较低的商誉费用，以及（ii）对IIA的认可从使用寿命有限的IIA转变为使用寿命不确定的IIA 。最后，我们的市场价值分析表明，市场并未将机械商誉摊销视为真实费用，但确实将真实支出，酌情减值准备以及根据AGAAP进行的更为宽松的IIA摊销视为处理。我们的结果与澳大利亚先前的研究一致，即根据国际财务报告准则对无形资产施加更严格的会计准则会降低投资者信息集的质量。