ABSTRACT
Chapter 4 takes the form of an interview with two of the leading standard-setters in the two decades from 1990 when transformational changes were made to accounting for M&A: David Tweedie, founding chairman and Geoffrey Whit-tington, member, of, first, the new UK’s Accounting Standards Board and then of the new International Accounting Standards Board. They reflect on the problems with accounting for M&A in 1990, the debates and resolutions of the subsequent 20 years, and the shortcomings they think still remain in accounting standards for M&A. Inter alia the discussion ranges over the treatment of purchased goodwill and other intangibles, impairment and amortisation, merger vs. acquisition accounting, fresh start accounting, the treatment of associate companies, and enforcement regimes for accounting rules.
