Goodwill in the process of mergers and acquisitions in Poland

The aim of this paper was to verify if the goodwill (positive or negative) disclosed after a merger or acquisition is sensitive to manipulating the financial result in the acquiring company. Manipulating the result referred to the extent of cost allocation in short-term prepayments. Later we examined if the operational result achieved by the acquiring company (profit or loss) has an impact upon the revealed goodwill. The verification of the research hypotheses was performed with the use of statistical tools (linear regression analysis, nonlinear regression function test, normality of residual distribution test). As a result of the research, no significant relation between allocating costs and the disclosed negative goodwill was found, only in the case of positive goodwill its value was related to the allocating in assets costs. Neither positive nor negative goodwill was related to the operating results of the acquiring companies in one year preceding the merger or acquisition.