18 CFR 367.1880: Account 188, Research, development, or demonstration expenditures.

(a) This account must be charged with the cost of all expenditures coming within the meaning of research, development and demonstration (RD&D) of this Uniform System of Accounts (See Definitions § 367.1(a)(40)), except those expenditures properly chargeable to account 107, Construction work in progress (§ 367.1070).

(b) Costs that are minor or of a general or recurring nature must be transferred from this account to the appropriate operating expense function or, if the costs are common to the overall operations or cannot be feasibly allocated to the various operating accounts, then the costs must be recorded in account 930.2, Miscellaneous general expenses (§ 367.9302).

(c) In certain instances, a service company may incur large and significant research, development, and demonstration expenditures that are nonrecurring and that would distort the annual research, development, and demonstration charges for the period. In such a case, the portion of such amounts that causes the distortion may be amortized to the appropriate operating expense account over a period not to exceed five years, unless otherwise authorized by the Commission.

(d) The entries in this account must be maintained so as to show separately each project along with complete detail of the nature and purpose of the research, development, and demonstration project together with the related costs.