ESG 성과와 영업권 손상차손

[Purpose]The importance of ESG activities for corporate sustainable management is increasing, and research on the impact of ESG performance is being conducted from various angles. This study examines the impact of a company’s ESG performance on goodwill impairment loss. Goodwill is an asset sensitive to corporate value, and a company’s ESG performance can affect economic performance and corporate value, and can also affect the estimation of the recoverable amount of goodwill, which can affect whether to recognize goodwill impairment loss and the size of the impairment loss. [Methodology]This study analyzes the impact of ESG performance on goodwill impairment losses among listed companies from 2012 to 2022, for which ESG rating data was available from the KCGS(Korea Institute of Corporate Governance and Sustainability) and goodwill balance was not zero as of the end of the previous year. [Findings]The empirical results shows that the better the company’s ESG performance, the less likely it is to recognize goodwill impairment losses, and the smaller the size of the goodwill impairment losses. In the case of goodwill, the recoverable amount and the carrying amount are compared during the impairment assessment process, and an impairment loss should be recognized when the recoverable amount is less than the carrying amount. In summary, the results show that the better the company’s ESG performance, the higher the recoverable amount of goodwill is estimated, which reduces the possibility of recognizing a goodwill impairment loss, and even if it is recognized, a relatively small amount is recognized as an impairment loss. [Implications]This study indicates that a company’s ESG performance can be a factor that affects the impairment loss of goodwill. This suggests that if a company achieves good performance through ESG activities, future cash flow and cost of capital can be improved, and the recoverable amount of goodwill can be calculated higher. In addition, it has a contribution in that it examined the effect of a company’s ESG activities through goodwill, an important intangible asset, which is sensitive to changes in corporate value.