Abstract This study examines the effects of a prominent principles-based standard (SFAS-142, Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets) on financial statement comparability. Using non-goodwill-intensive firms as our control group, we implement a difference-in-differences research design to examine how SFAS-142 affects comparability among goodwill-intensive firms (i.e. a treatment group), and comparability between goodwill-intensive firms and non-goodwill-intensive firms (i.e. another treatment group). We find that SFAS-142 decreases comparability among goodwill-intensive firms, as well as comparability between goodwill-intensive and non-goodwill-intensive firms. We also find that these reductions in comparability are less severe when the verifiability of net assets is higher. Overall, the results suggest that principles-based standards may reduce comparability, particularly when the accounting items entail high uncertainty and verifiability is low.

中文翻译：

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基于原则的标准对财务报表可比性的影响：SFAS-142案例

摘要本研究考察了一项基于原则的杰出标准（SFAS-142，商誉和其他无形资产）对财务报表可比性的影响。以非商誉密集型企业为控制组，我们实施了差异研究设计，以检验SFAS-142如何影响商誉密集型企业（即处理组）之间的可比性，以及商誉密集型企业与企业之间的可比性。非商誉密集型公司（即另一个治疗组）。我们发现SFAS-142降低了商誉密集型企业之间的可比性，以及商誉密集型企业与非商誉密集型企业之间的可比性。我们还发现，当净资产的可验证性较高时，可比性的降低就不会那么严重。全面的，