合并财务报表中客户关系资产的确认及其价值相关性研究

Customer Relationships in the Consolidated Financial Statements:Recognition and Value Relevance

客户关系是公司经营的重要战略资源。根据现行会计准则,发生非同一控制下企业合并时,只要客户关系的公允价值能够可靠计量,购买方就应将其在合并财务报表中独立于商誉确认为一项无形资产。然而,由于客户关系资产确认和计量受主观因素影响较大,IASB和IFRIC曾多次讨论是否要继续将客户关系资产独立于商誉确认。但受制于数据限制等原因,迄今鲜有研究量化分析企业客户关系资产的确认动机及其价值相关性。为此,本文以2007-2020年中国A股上市公司为样本,研究发现:(1)创新投入越多的公司,越有可能确认客户关系资产;(2)上市公司股票价格与客户关系资产账面价值显著正相关,即投资者对客户关系作为独立于商誉确认的可辨认无形资产给予积极反应,体现了客户关系资产的价值相关性。本研究为国际准则制定机构和实务界对客户关系资产是否应独立于商誉确认的争议提供一定的经验证据。

With a sample of A-share listed firms from 2007 to 2020 in China,this study examines the recognition incentives and value relevance of customer relationship assets.Customer relationship is one of the most important strategic resources.Current accounting standards require an acquirer to recognize all identifiable intangible assets acquired in a business combination separately from goodwill.However,stakeholders question the usefulness of the information about customer relationships that are difficult to value reliably.IASB and IFRIC have discussed a lot about whether to continue to separate customer relationships from goodwill.We find that firms that have more R&D investments are more likely to recognize customer relationship assets.Further our study finds that book values of customer relationship assets are positively associated with stock price,which means customer relationships are value relevant.We report empirical evidences in support of both international and Chinese accounting standards for separate recognition of customer relationships.