Associate Finance Executive Question:

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Goodwill is an asset that captures excess of the purchase price over fair market value of an acquired business. Let's walk through the following example: Acquirer buys Target for $500m in cash. Target has 1 asset: PPE with book value of $100, debt of $50m, and equity of $50m = book value (A-L) of $50m.

Acquirer records cash decline of $500 to finance acquisition
Acquirer's PP&E increases by $100m
Acquirer's debt increases by $50m
Acquirer records goodwill of $450m