£1bn of R&D highlighted by accounting change
Tougher accounting requirement leads to several blue chip companies reporting additional R&D investment, contributing to the windfall sum
An annual survey of UK businesses has uncovered an extra £1bn of Research
and Development investment following the introduction of a new accounting
standard.
The findings were published in the R&D Scoreboard, produced annually by
the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) business, finance and investment
unit.
UK firms raised their budget for research and development by 13% last year
despite a sudden drop in expenditure for foreign-owned companies, the
DTI said. Total spending on
R&D jumped to £19.2bn last year from £17bn in 2004.
However, the increase was distorted by the introduction of a new accounting
rule that insisted on a higher level of disclosure in sectors not traditionally
associated with R&D.
The DTI said six companies had added £1bn of previously unrecorded R&D,
including, £329m spent by Royal
Bank of Scotland, £245m by the investment bank HSBC, £122m at the insurer
Royal & Sun Alliance, £115m by Tesco, and £102m by the publishing group
Reed Elsevier.
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