negative goodwill

Items 17 and 18 of Form 20-F currently provide relief from the reconciliation requirements for the amortization period of goodwill and negative goodwill.

It also states in para 12 that 'the principles set out above in respect of disposals also apply to closures of businesses and to negative goodwill'.

An entity recognizing negative goodwill in the income statement on a method other than straight-line amortization, under either version of IAS 22, would be required to reconcile these differences to US GAAP.

Accordingly, the amount of goodwill or negative goodwill that is subject to the IAS 22 amortization period in the US GAAP reconciliation is the amount determined under US GAAP.

Accommodation for Goodwill Amortization Period Under IAS 22 (revised 1993), goodwill and negative goodwill generally are amortized over a period not exceeding 5 years unless a longer period, not exceeding 20 years, can be justified.

Because of differences in the methods for determining and allocating purchase price, the amount of goodwill or negative goodwill under the IAS acquisition method may differ from the amount under the US GAAP purchase method.

The accommodation permits US GAAP reconciling disclosures to be omitted with respect to the amortization period of goodwill and negative goodwill if the period of amortization used in the primary financial statements conforms to the requirements of IAS 22 (revised 1993).