Is It the Signal of Goodwill Impairment When the Major Shareholders Reduce Their Holdings?

The paper takes A-share listed companies from 2014 to 2018 as samples to study the relationship between the reduction of major shareholders and goodwill impairment, which is in the view of behavior characteristics of major shareholders and based on the theory of information asymmetry. The research shows that there is a significant positive correlation between the reduction of major shareholders and goodwill impairment. It means that the more the reduction of major shareholders in the enterprise, the more likely the goodwill will be impaired. When it comes to the timeliness of information transmission, the further research shows that the possibility of goodwill impairment caused by major shareholders' reduction in the first half of the year is higher than that in the second half of the year after distinguishing the timing of major shareholders' reduction, which means the closer to the date of balance sheet, the lower the correlation between major shareholders' reduction and goodwill impairment. Therefore, the regulatory agency should pay special attention to the enterprises with high goodwill impairment and reduction of major shareholders to limit the reduction of the share of major shareholders in the enterprises with high goodwill, the enterprises should also constantly improve the corporate governance mechanism to prevent the occurrence of self-interest behavior of major shareholders and jointly promote the high-quality development of the capital market.