Beaubox, one of Europe’s leading packaging manufacturers, is headquartered in Paris. Its 1997 annual report contains the following note.

Research and Development Expenditure Such expenditure is charged to the profit and loss account in the year in which it is incurred. Tangible assets related to research and development are depreciated over the expected useful lives of the assets.

Required

a. Discuss the meaning and possible interpretation of this note.

b. Rewrite this note to clarify its meaning.

c. Does this treatment of R&D seem consistent with U.S. GAAP? In what ways?