In recent years,substantial goodwill impairment of listed companies has attracted considerable attention.Some companies have encountered operational crises and financial difficulties due to large-scale goodwill impairment.While substantial goodwill impairment harms investors'interests,it also significantly undermines the overall stability of the capital market.Therefore,exploring effective methods for identifying goodwill impairment is of great significance to protect investors'rights and interests and to maintain the stability of the capital market.Currently,the assessment of corporate goodwill impairment predominantly relies on financial information,with relatively insufficient attention to non-financial information.Corporate ESG performance,as a crucial piece of non-financial information,is closely related to corporate operations and development,potentially offering valuable insights for identifying goodwill impairment.Therefore,investigating the applicability of corporate ESG performance in identifying goodwill impairment is a significant and valuable issue.Using A-share listed companies in China's capital market from 2009 to 2021,this paper examines the relationship between corporate ESG performance and goodwill impairment.The main findings are as follows.Firstly,corporate ESG performance is significantly and negatively correlated with goodwill impairment,indicating that corporate ESG performance can be valuable information for identifying goodwill impairment.Secondly,mechanism analysis reveals that good ESG performance suggests optimistic future operating performance and lower operating risks,thereby implying less goodwill impairment.Thirdly,the negative relationship between ESG performance and goodwill impairment is more pronounced in non-state-owned companies and companies with lower institutional ownership or less analyst coverage.Finally,this study finds that divergence in ESG ratings weakens the negative relationship between companies'ESG performance and goodwill impairment.Compared to existing studies,this paper makes possible marginal contributions in three main aspects.Firstly,it explores the informational value of companies'ESG performance from the perspective of decision usefulness.While existing research primarily focuses on how ESG performance information influences corporate behavior in the capital market,this paper emphasizes the intrinsic informational value of ESG performance,discussing the corporate traits embedded within it.Secondly,it enriches the research literature on corporate goodwill impairment from an ESG perspective.Although some studies have addressed the impact of corporate ESG performance on M&A goodwill,they have not thoroughly explored the inherent connection between corporate ESG performance and goodwill impairments.This study provides new empirical evidence for understanding goodwill impairment in the context of sustainable development.Thirdly,this paper links corporate ESG performance with goodwill impairment,providing valuable insights on the non-financial dimension for effectively identifying and preventing goodwill impairment risks.
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万方数据
