Discretionary capitalization of development expenditures

Abstract

The paper examines the discretionary nature of (non)capitalizing development expenditures in financial statements. A review of the literature shows that companies may have different motives and factors for (non)capitalizing development expenditures. This study analyzes a sample of 547 companies from the information and communications technology (ICT) sector listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in the period 2009-2018. The ICT sector was selected because it represents an industry with high R&D (research and development) expenditures. The results of the probit regression analysis made on 3,718 observations show that the capitalization of development expenditures is significantly positively related to the size and return on assets of the firm and negatively related to the age of the firm. Larger and more profitable firms are more likely to capitalize development expenditures, while older firms are less likely to capitalize development expenditures. Our results contribute to the literature in the field of positive accounting theory providing additional insights into factors associated with decisions to (non)capitalize development expenditures.

Keywords

• capitalization
• development expenditures
• discretion
• incentives
• intangible assets