U.S. GAAP. Firms have the option to perform a qualitative assessment to evaluate possible goodwill impairment based on a greater than 50 percent likelihood that a reporting unit's fair value is less than its carrying amount. If such a likelihood exists, then a two-step testing procedure is performed. In step one, a reporting unit's total fair value is compared to its carrying amount. If the carrying amount exceeds fair value, then a second step comparing goodwill's implied fair value to its carrying amount is performed.