The Quality of Goodwill Disclosures and Impairment in the Financial Statements of Energy, Mining, and Fuel Sector Groups during the Pandemic Period—Evidence from Poland

Maciej Gierusz (), Stanisław Hońko (), Marzena Strojek-Filus and Katarzyna Świetla
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Maciej Gierusz: Department of Accounting, The Faculty of Management, University of Gdańsk, 101 Armii Krajowej St., 80-309 Gdańsk, Poland
Stanisław Hońko: Department of Accounting, Institute of Economy and Finance, University of Szczecin, 64 Mickiewicza St., 71-101 Szczecin, Poland
Marzena Strojek-Filus: Department of Accounting, Faculty of Finance, University of Economics in Katowice, 1 Maja 50, 40-287 Katowice, Poland
Katarzyna Świetla: Department of Financial Accounting, Institute of Finance, Cracow University of Economics, 27 Rakowicka St., 31-510 Kraków, Poland

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 16, 1-20

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has strongly affected the economic situation of many countries, which is worth considering not only globally but also in the context of specific industries. An asset that is particularly sensitive to negative economic changes is goodwill. The aim of this study is to assess the impact of the pandemic on the quality of financial disclosures concerning goodwill in consolidated financial statements of groups of chosen strategic sectors in Poland. We investigated the implications of the pandemic on the frequency and scale of goodwill impairment in relation to 23 companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange from the Energy, Mining, and Fuel Index. We identified the research gap in this area. For the purposes of this study, two research hypotheses were formulated: (H1) during the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a slight improvement in the quality of goodwill disclosures in the consolidated financial statements of groups in the energy, fuel, and mining sectors; (H2) The COVID-19 pandemic caused a decrease in goodwill due to impairment losses in the consolidated financial statements of groups in the energy, fuel, and mining sectors. The hypotheses were verified on the basis of the above research sample. In order to verify the first hypothesis, we tested 81 consolidated financial statements for the years 2018–2021 based on a self-developed index of the quality of disclosed information. To verify the second hypothesis, we analyzed the frequency and scale of the estimated loss of goodwill during the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the deterioration of the financial condition of the same research sample. The conducted research shows that the quality of disclosures regarding the goodwill in the examined sample has changed slightly. Contrary to our expectations, the pandemic did not materially reduce the value of goodwill. This means that the first hypothesis was verified positively, while the second hypothesis had to be rejected.

Keywords: goodwill; impairment of goodwill; quality of financial statements; energy sector; mining; fuel; disclosures of financial information (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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