Capitalization of development costs is compulsory according to IFRS if a set of criteria is fulfilled. However, this obligation
is considered as a de facto right for capitalization since the criteria are quite subjective, allowing for a certain degree of
flexibility. Hence, the question arises whether managers use research and development (R&D) accounting to conduct earnings
management in terms of income smoothing. Using a sample of German listed companies, the study conducts several regression
analyses to test whether there is a negative relationship between R&D capitalization and different income smoothing proxies.
Results show that the hypothesis is supported independent of the income smoothing proxy used. The study proofs that
managers indeed use R&D capitalization judgments to conduct income smoothing.