Measuring innovation and navigating its unique information issues: A review of the accounting literature on innovation☆

• 成果类型: Review
• 署名作者: Glaeser, Stephen; Lang, Mark
• 署名单位: University of North Carolina; University of North Carolina Chapel Hill; University of North Carolina School of Medicine
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ACCOUNTING & ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0165-4101
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jacceco.2024.101720
• 发表日期: 2024
• 关键词: research-and-development; management control-systems; stock-market valuation; development investments; Corporate innovation; earnings management; ANALYST COVERAGE; Tax incentives; TRADE SECRETS; box regimes

摘要

We review the accounting literature on innovation, focusing on the economic attributes of innovation that collectively differentiate innovation from other assets: novelty, nonrivalry, and partial excludability. These attributes help innovation drive economic growth but create unique information-based challenges that accounting information and researchers are well suited to address. We discuss the definition and measurement of innovation and highlight common mistakes researchers make when measuring innovation and when using sources of plausibly exogenous variation. We then review the accounting literatures on the disclosure, management, financial reporting, taxation, and contracting and financing of innovation. For each of these literatures we identify challenges and opportunities for future research.