An empirical analysis of intangible asset reporting practices

The article examines the accounting and financial reporting of intangible assets held and reported by the S&P/ASX 100 listed entities on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) during 2016 and 2017. The different types of intangible assets that are disclosed and reported by the S&P/ASX 100 with a view of providing detailed information concerning the composition, type and nature of intangibles and intellectual property assets held by Australia's top listed entities. The article provides further detail regarding the importance of intangible assets relative to total assets and market capitalisation of the S&P/ASX 100. Lastly, we examine the relative importance and composition of intangible assets for each sector of our sample of listed entities in the S&P/ASX 100. The article concludes with the finding that there is a positive reporting bias for externally acquired goodwill and a negative reporting bias for internally generated intangibles as assets, which are reported and disclosed by Australia's top 100 listed entities.