The Impact of Not Amortizing Intangible Assets on Valuation Multiples

Intangible assets comprise goodwill and identifiable intangible assets with finite and indefinite lives. Current New Zealand GAAP amortizes intangible assets on a systematic basis over their useful lives, with the proviso that the amortization period for goodwill cannot exceed 20 years. International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) do not permit the periodic amortization of goodwill and identifiable intangible assets with indefinite lives. Instead, these intangibles are subject to a periodic impairment test with any impairment recognised in profit or loss. In the absence of an impairment loss, the IFRS rule would increase earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) and earnings (E), but this impact should not affect the value of the enterprise (EV) and the value of the firm's equity (P). Hence, valuation heuristics for EV/EBIT (enterprise value to EBIT) and PE (price to earnings) multiples, which are commonly used for valuations and which have evolved under the amortization rule, need to be revised downward to adjust for the IFRS-induced increase in EBIT and E. Our analysis of New Zealand companies with intangible assets indicates that the mean EV/EBIT and PE multiples with amortization of intangibles of 12.403 and 13.586, respectively, decrease to 10.971 and 12.346, respectively, without amortization of intangibles.