Brand Finance's "Goodwill Hunting" whitepaper examines the accounting treatment of goodwill and the potential risks associated with it. The paper highlights the case of Debenhams, which took a $407m impairment against goodwill in 2018, contributing to heavy losses and the cancellation of dividends. The paper suggests that the impairment could have been avoided through higher levels of prudence in the initial fair value exercise or more rigorous annual impairment tests. The remaining $670m of goodwill was retained on the balance sheet at the financial year end of September 2018, just three months before Mike Ashley revealed that his lifeline offer was snubbed. In April 2019, Debenhams announced a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) plan which outlined proposals for warehouse and store closures as part of the company's restructuring.
