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Generally when a successful business is acquired, whether by an asset acquisition or an equity acquisition, the assets will includeboth tangible and intangible property. When an entity conducting a business is liquidated, the tangible and intangible assets of the entity are distributed to the owners. Often, one very valuable intangible that does not appear on the balance sheet is goodwill. In many businesses, particularly service businesses, goodwill is often one of the largest, if not the largest, assets of the business. Indeed, in personal servicebusinesses, the value of the goodwill may be a major multiple of all the other assets combined. http://www.wallerlaw.com/portalresource/lookup/wosid/cp-base-4-127803/media.name=/MAG_08-16_Griffith.pdf