This paper reviews compliance with the IAS 36 goodwill impairment testing disclosure requirements by South African entities included in the All Share Index of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. A detailed extraction of disclosures provided by entities with material levels of goodwill was compared to the key requirements. The approach taken is grounded in an assumption that the diligence with which preparers attend to visible disclosures acts a “litmus test” of the reliability of the invisible workings of the “black box” of impairment testing. The results are analysed through a critical narrative proposing insights relevant to preparers, auditors, regulators, and standard-setters. Consistent with results of studies in other jurisdictions the disclosures of South African entities are often incomplete and inconsistent, presented in a minimalist, generic, “boiler-plate” fashion considered to be of limited use to decision-makers assessing the reliability of impairment testing. This is the first known detailed review of South African levels of compliance with goodwill impairment testing disclosure requirements offered as an initial contribution to assessing the reliability of goodwill balances reported by South African corporate entities.

中文翻译：

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商誉减值测试披露– 2018年南非合规

本文回顾了约翰内斯堡证券交易所“全部股票指数”中所包含的南非实体对IAS 36商誉减值测试披露要求的遵守情况。将实体具有实质商誉水平的主体提供的披露的详细摘录与关键要求进行了比较。所采用的方法是基于这样的假设，即准备者应尽的努力进行可见披露，是对减值测试“黑匣子”的不可见工作可靠性的“石蕊测试”。通过批评性的叙述性分析对结果进行分析，提出与准备者，审计师，监管者和标准制定者有关的见解。与其他司法管辖区的研究结果一致，南非实体的披露内容通常不完整且前后矛盾，以简约的形式呈现，通用的“样板”方式被认为对评估减值测试的可靠性的决策者使用有限。这是南非对商誉减值测试披露要求合规性水平的首次已知详细审查，这是对评估南非公司实体报告的商誉余额可靠性的初步贡献。