Goodwill

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2020

Goodwill and Intangible Assets Disclosure [Abstract]

Many of the former owners and staff of our acquired funeral homes and certain cemeteries have provided high quality service to families for generations, which 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 and cemeteries acquired is recorded as goodwill.

Our goodwill has an indefinite life and is not subject to amortization. As such, we test goodwill for impairment on an annual basis as of August 31st each year. In addition to our annual test, we assess the impairment of goodwill whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value of a reporting unit may be greater than fair value. Factors that could trigger an interim impairment review include, but are not limited to, significant negative industry or economic trends and significant adverse changes in the business climate, which may be indicated by a decline in our market capitalization or decline in operating results.

As a result of economic conditions caused by COVID-19, we performed a quantitative assessment of our goodwill at March 31, 2020 and we recorded an impairment to goodwill of $13.6 million during the quarter ended March 31, 2020 recorded in Net loss on divestitures and impairment charges, as the carrying amount of our funeral homes in the Eastern Region Reporting Unit exceeded the fair value.

For our 2020 annual impairment test, we performed a qualitative assessment and determined that there was no additional impairment to goodwill as the fair value of our reporting units was greater than the carrying value.

The following table presents changes in goodwill in the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheet (in thousands):


	December 31, 2019		December 31, 2020
Goodwill at the beginning of year	$	303,887	$	398,292
Net increase in goodwill related to acquisitions	99,344		14,054
Decrease in goodwill related to divestitures	(4,197)		(5,736)
Decrease in goodwill related to impairments	(742)		(13,632)
Goodwill at the end of the year	$	398,292	$	392,978

During the year ended December 31, 2020, we recognized $14.1 million in goodwill related to our acquisitions; $10.4 million was allocated to our cemetery segment and $3.7 million was allocated to our funeral home segment.

In addition, we allocated $5.7 million of goodwill to the sale of five funeral homes for a loss recorded in Net loss on divestitures and impairment charges. Goodwill is only allocated to the sale if the set is considered to be a business. When we divest a portion of a reporting unit that constitutes a business in accordance with U.S. GAAP, we allocate goodwill associated with that business to be included in the gain or loss on divestiture. When divesting a business, goodwill is allocated based on the relative fair values of the business being divested and the portion of the reporting unit that will be retained.

During the year ended December 31, 2019, we recognized $99.3 million in goodwill related to our acquisitions; $36.9 million was allocated to our cemetery segment and $62.4 million was allocated to our funeral home segment.

In addition, we allocated $4.2 million of goodwill to the sale of a funeral home for a loss recorded in Net loss on divestitures and impairment charges. We also recorded a goodwill impairment of $0.7 million during 2019 related to two funeral homes that we divested which was recorded as a loss in Net loss on divestitures and impairment charges.

See Notes 1, 3 and 5 to the Consolidated Financial Statements included herein, for a discussion of the methodology used for our annual goodwill impairment test and a discussion of our acquisitions and divestitures, respectively.