In very general terms because goodwill and intangibles are a very complex area of accounting, goodwill and particularly the goodwill associated with a brand cannot be created by the company and put on the balance sheet - created out of thin air as such. It has to be acquired to be recognised - effectively the business bought by someone else and the acquirer would account for the goodwill as a part of their acquisition price.And I'd agree. I was merely musing, given brand Finance have come up with a figure, how Qantas accounts for the value of its brand.
If its not goodwill, or an intangible, how do they account for it? If Qantas suddenly changed its name to Wedgetail or something, you'd have to think that the share market value of the company at least would fall quite a lot, demonstrating that the 'Qantas' name has real value, therefore an asset, which I think is self evident anyway.
Given that’s nobody has ever acquired QF, apart from at least 1 attempt, there is no goodwill for the brand on the balance sheet.
The goodwill that does exist on the balance sheet already is the goodwill that QF have recognised when they have acquired other businesses Over time.
(Also, but not too relevant here, is that there are more components to goodwill and intangibles than just brand value. Intangibles like patents, trademarks etc).