Romanian groups of companies have to publish consolidated financial statements in accordance with the 7^th European Directive, or if they are listed, in accordance with IFRS, thus complying with the EU Regulation 1606/2002. A highly actual and far-reaching issue concerning consolidated accounts is goodwill, whose recognition and measurement can significantly influence the value of the reporting group. Goodwill constitutes a subject for debate for a long time in accounting. Thus we intend to continue the debate by a comparative study regarding the treatment of goodwill according to both sets of regulations. We planed for our research to study the appropriate technical literature, the relevant legislation in the field of business combinations and the studies on this topic published by the major consultancy companies. The objective of our study is to reveal the differences and similarities between the two approaches to goodwill, highlighting the influences of these treatments on the consolidated accounts. The conclusion will consist in analyzing the impact of the changes related to the goodwill treatment which have to be made by first-time adopters of IFRS, adopters that previously prepared consolidated accounts in accordance with OMFP 1752/2005.