GOODWILL

Many of the former owners and staff of our acquired funeral homes and certain cemeteries have provided high quality service to families for generations. The resulting loyalty often represents a substantial portion of the value of a business. The excess of the purchase price over the fair value of identifiable net assets of funeral home businesses acquired is recorded as goodwill. Goodwill has primarily been recorded in connection with the acquisition of funeral home businesses.

Under current guidance, we are permitted to first assess qualitative factors to determine whether it is more-likely-than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount as a basis for determining whether it is necessary to perform the two-step goodwill impairment test. We conducted qualitative assessments in 2014 and 2015; however, for our 2016 annual impairment test, we performed the two-step goodwill impairment test. Our intent is to perform the two-step test at least once every three years unless certain indicators or events suggest otherwise. See Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements included herein, for a discussion of the methodology used for our annual goodwill impairment test. Based on our 2016 impairment test, we concluded that there was no impairment to goodwill.

The following table presents changes in goodwill in the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets for the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2016 (in thousands):



	December 31, 2015		December 31, 2016
Goodwill at the beginning of year	$	257,442	$	264,416
Increase in goodwill related to acquisitions	6,974		11,832
Decrease in goodwill related to divestitures	—		(761		)
Goodwill at the end of the year	$	264,416	$	275,487

The $11.8 million increase to goodwill represents the goodwill recorded in connection with our 2016 acquisitions. The $0.8 million decrease to goodwill relates to a divested business in Tennessee during the fourth quarter of 2016.