We analyze the trade-off between the benefits of signaling and the distortions fromopportunistic earnings management resulting from the discretionary capitalization ofResearch & Development (R&D) expenditures. The latter can be used by managers to signalprivate information to the market. It can...

Numerous empirical studies provide evidence on the value relevance of capitalizing expenditures on intangibles such as research & development (Lev and Sougiannis 1996, Hand 2003). However, accounting standards in many countries, such as the U.S. or Germany, prohibit capitalizing these. In this...