About “dog” goodwill, “cat” goodwill and not only: to a question of far-fetched terms, classifications and algorithms

Abstract

The article is devoted to the economic substance of one of the most important economic categories — goodwill as a pricing factor on the capital market and the formation of ideas about the economic potential of the business entity. Goodwill as a subject for discussion is considered the most actively by experts in the field of accounting. However, this category is not a pure subject of accounting only; therefore, adequate perception of this category is of interest to a wide circle of business participants. The authors briefly reviewed the history of the emergence of this category in the economic and legislative environment of business activity and demonstrated in historical perspective the main discussion on its interpretation, evaluation and reflection in the information environment. The article shows that the treatment of goodwill as an intangible asset is highly conditional. There was a certain inherent inconsistency of development of Russian scientists direct borrowing valuation models and algorithms in the financial analytics. The authors explain the reasons of occurrence of erroneous definitions and goodwill estimation algorithms given in the domestic scientific, educational, and normative literature. Examples demonstrating the importance of this category in the market economy are presented as well. The authors explain the logic of goodwill evaluation and the practice of corresponding counting algorithms. The main part of the article provides a brief review of four key topics that reveal the essence of goodwill, respectively, of its typology, logic and pricing options, and finally presenting the specifics of its reflection in financial reporting. Refs 47.