$1.$ This is the first year in which AM has implemented its policy of performing formal quantitative goodwill impairment

tests. In preparation for the upcoming financial statement audit of AM and its subsidiaries, and for future audits,

Mickelson would like you to provide documentation of the process that should be used in determining the appropriate

goodwill valuation in accordance with U$.$S$.$ GAAP.

Please provide a step$-$by$-$step list or decision diagram$/$flowchart that details the general process of assessing goodwill

impairment. There are at least three major decision steps within the process. Each major decision, though, hasits

own set of steps. Each step should be accompanied by a decision along with a justification for the course of

action as indicated by the Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting Standards Codification. You

should prepare your documentation such that it can be applied to a broad array of scenarios involving goodwill

impairment and, thus, it must extend beyond the specific fact patterns presented in the case text.

$2.$ Based upon your knowledge of the facts presented in the case and appropriate authoritative guidance, Mickelson has

asked you to oversee the testing of goodwill impairment for ZD and Hope and to ultimately determine, based upon the

information provided by Roberts, the valuation of goodwill and the related impairment loss, if any, for the Household

Goods segment. Please provide any relevant calculations.

$3.$ Beyond the company$$s compliance with U$.$S$.$ GAAP, AM$$s institutional shareholders are most concerned with the

quality of the financial information that they are provided, and its ability to affect their investing decisions. In past

shareholder meetings, AM investors have been particularly interested in goodwill valuations of recent acquisitions,

given AM$$s role in the market as a conglomerate. In anticipation of questions surrounding goodwill at the upcoming

shareholder meetings, Mickelson would like you to provide a written, maximum two$-$page, single$-$spaced memo

containing $(1)$ an explanation of why you chose $($or did not choose$)$ to early adopt the goodwill impairment testing

provisions of ASU $2017-04$; and $(2)$ an evaluation of the efficacy of the reported goodwill amount from Requirement $2$

in contributing to the quality of the information reported to AM shareholders and the public. Be sure to consider

differences between the specific goodwill impairment guidance and the related theoretical guidance from theFinancial

Accounting Standards Board Conceptual Framework, along with the political and practical forces that may have caused

them