The Aldi Group, which has been growing ever since its foundation in the 1960s, operates over 10,000 shops worldwide, primarily across Europe. Below are extracts on intangible assets software assets from The Annual Report of the Aldi Group 2018. This is, presumably, the computer software that is used in the various stores to process all the customer transactions as well as monitor stock levels to ensure appropriate levels are held at each location. It is important to realize that all the software capitalized here is most likely already being used by the company to improve its processes. Aldi 2018 Financial Statement (extract) 9. Intangible fixed assets Cost At 1 January 2018 Additions Disposals Exchange differences At 31 December 2018 Software 000 Other Intangibles Total 000 000 14,912 13,702 4,399 442 28,614 4,841 (37) (37) 16 113 129 19,290 14,257 33,547 (a) Based on the information from the extracts above, discuss why research into possible new software will not be included in these figures, according to international financial reporting standards. [8 marks] (b) Explain why standard setters consider it necessary to distinguish between research and development expenditure, and critically discuss the accounting treatment of intangible assets under IAS 38, citing research and development expenditure as examples where appropriate. [22 marks]