Accounting for intangible assets – insights from meta-analysis of R&D research
Journal of Accounting Literature
ISSN: 0737-4607
Article publication date: 8 December 2021
Issue publication date: 12 April 2022
Abstract
Purpose
The knowledge- and Internet-based economy demands a reexamination of the accounting treatment for intangibles and a thorough understanding of the empirical evidence on this topic.
Design/methodology/approach
The study reviews the literature on research and development (R&D), a specific internally developed intangible asset, using meta-analysis techniques that allow to highlight the areas of consensus and disagreement in quantitative empirical results. The literature the authors review addresses four main research questions on (1) the determinants of the decision to capitalize R&D, (2) stock market-based outcomes of capitalizing R&D, (3) firm-based outcomes related to expensing R&D and (4) stock market-based outcomes of expensing R&D.
Findings
The authors find higher value relevance of capitalized compared with expensed R&D. There is, however, little robust evidence on the determinants of the capitalization decision and the characteristics of capitalizers.
Originality/value
The authors conclude by highlighting future research that can allow accounting academics to contribute to standard setting.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Stephen Asare and W. Robert Knechel (editors), two anonymous reviewers, and conference and seminar participants at the EAA Annual Meeting 2016 Maastricht, The Netherlands, the Association Francophone de Comptabilité 2016 Toulouse, France, UQAM and ESSEC Business School for useful comments. The authors thank Jin Jiang and Lio Tong for excellent research assistance and Ann Gallon for editing and helpful comments. The authors acknowledge financial support from the Autorité des Normes Comptables, France. Anne Jeny acknowledges financial support from the Research Center of ESSEC Business School.
Citation
Jeny, A. and Moldovan, R. (2022), "Accounting for intangible assets – insights from meta-analysis of R&D research", Journal of Accounting Literature, Vol. 44 No. 1, pp. 40-71. https://doi.org/10.1108/JAL-11-2021-0004
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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