In 2001, the new Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 142 (SFAS 142) shifted from requiring companies to gradually deduct goodwill—a component of a subsidiary’s acquisition cost (goodwill amortization)—to not requiring these deductions (non-amortization). The researchers wanted to see if this accounting change resulted in companies offering higher prices than they should (overbidding) during mergers and acquisitions (M&A). To examine the impact of this accounting change, they used a novel method to measure overbidding.