Forsknings- & udviklingsprojekter

Abstract

In 2022 almost half of the Danish companies had increased the amount of innovation as well as launched new product or procedures. In the same year research and development costs constituted 2.9% of the Danish BNP. The increase in innovation and research and development costs grew our interest in learning more about this. This paper starts with the definition of research and development costs as well as the requirements for recognition and measurements. This will lead us to the review of how development and research differ from each other and how the accounting treatment is different. It is important to know the difference between research and development costs in the income statement versus the balance sheet and how these are treated. The requirements will after this be explained through the annual report from four Danish companies. The analysis of the four Danish companies will consist of the companies of the rules regarding research and development costs and how these are treated and presented in the annual reports. The companies are compared on how alike the annual reports are or how different the interpretation of the research and development costs are treated. We have throughout the paper identifies several challenges regarding research and development costs. We have discussed these challenges, and these include: the difference between research, development and maintenance, compliance of the criteria for recognition, impairment test and the matching principle. The challenges regarding the analysis of the annual report are, that it is not possible to standardize the interpretation of research and development costs. Therefore, if you want to know more about specific research and development costs, you must look at a company with those specific assets. The four challenges from the discussion requires a lot of resources and good internal controls. This is important because of the transparency between the company and the users of the financial statements.