Ernst & Young released its 2011 European Fraud survey 79 that includes a warning against the manipulation of asset impairment writedowns due to the subjective factors used and judgment needed to draw conclusions about the proper amount of writedowns.
The PCAOB found 123 audit deficiencies related to asset-valuation problems found among clients of the Big Four accounting firms in 2010, making asset valuation the most common audit problem.
How do the rules for determining the impairment of long-lived assets explained in the chapter contribute to the possibility of audit deficiencies? Is this an area where GAAP should be converged with IFRS, or vice versa?