R&D Eligible

Term Definition
R&D eligible means research and development eligible. Often, a project will contain tasks and activities that are research and development eligible. Many organizations must track Research and Development for accounting purposes, and thus, have a financial obligation to track efforts that are spent on research and development tasks. Many jurisdictions have some tax rebate or government support for work, which fits a particular definition of research and development.

Organizations must be able to identify work that is research and development eligible from work that is not. Time tracking software facilitates the task of tracking Research and Development eligible tasks within a project. For example, actual costs can be tracked distinctly from capitalized costs, from R&D costs and from project costs, and tracked down to the employee and task level. Reports can include R&D vs. non-R&D costs, and any level of detail required. Once timesheet data has been collected, it can be reported on or transferred directly to both the finance systems required and the project management system. Audit trails ensure the data is always acceptable for auditing purposes.

If organizations are conducting research and development they may qualify for tax incentives. In order to benefit from these programs, they must clearly document time and activities related to research and development. Without the advantage of software this task can prove to be tedious and impossible for organizations to manage, resulting in large amounts of revenue lost because program guidelines cannot be met. Some organizations may not even realize they qualify for tax incentives due to their inability to accurately track and report research and development eligible tasks.

The Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&D) program is one example of a program that provides tax incentives to Canadian businesses that conduct scientific research experimental development in Canada. The program encourages businesses to conduct research and development that will lead to new, improved or technologically advanced products or processes.

Area of Application
Project Accounting
Timesheet

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