The Scoreboard data are taken from the published accounts of UK-based and global companies by Company Reporting Limited, using the most recent accounts as of 28th July 2008.
For most companies the data represent their accounts for the calendar year 2007 or for the financial year 2007/08
There are some other important aspects of the data which affect
their interpretation:
- Not all companies disclose their R&D investment in published annual reports and accounts and these are excluded from the Scoreboard.
- For many diversified groups, the R&D investment disclosed in their accounts arises from only part of their activities, whereas sales, operating profits and other data such as market capitalisation reflect all their activities. As a result, some statistics derived for these companies will understate the R&D performance of the divisions that are active in R&D.
- The R&D investment reported in company accounts is independent of the location of the R&D activity which means that the UK850 data indicate the overall level of R&D funded by UK companies, not all of which is carried out in the UK. In contrast, other information such as the Business Enterprise R&D (BERD) data generated by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) focus on R&D activity within the UK, independent of the source of funding, and exclude R&D carried out by UK companies in other countries. The means that the Scoreboard complements country-level R&D data; it is not a sound basis for comparisons between countries.
- The composition of the UK850 and G1400 lists fluctuates from year to year with changes in individual companies’ spending patterns. Unless otherwise stated, growth rates quoted in this document are based on the prior performance of the current list of UK850 and G1400 firms (rather than that of previous lists of firms).
Further details of the scope of the Scoreboard, the key definitions used and the resulting limitations of the data are set out in Appendix A.
The analysis is principally the work of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.
