The Tombstone/JHO case presents a scenario in accounting practice in which a staff accountant may be asked to develop a preliminary internal valuation of a previously acquired company and make a judgment concerning whether goodwill is impaired. Business valuation is an important skill that many believe is lacking in an accountant's current education. For example, Professor John Christenson states: “Accountants have outsourced estimating fair values … students only learn to enter debits and credits” (Christenson 2016). The Tombstone/JHO case addresses this concern and provides material to be utilized in financial statement analysis, intermediate accounting, and/or advanced accounting courses at either the undergraduate or graduate level. The case can be assigned on an individual or group basis for out-of-class preparation, followed by in-class discussion.
This case involves applying the impairment model to goodwill from Tombstone's acquisition of JHO using information contained in the case. Although Tombstone and JHO are...