Given that the bulk of the value in tech is driven by research and development spending, we are baffled by the fact that accounting conventions and current reporting practices allow companies to effectively erase the bulk of R&D costs from their earnings. We explore the two main ways companies do this by taking a close look at the R&D spending of the major security software players including $OKTA, $NET, $PANW, $CRWD, $ZS, and $FTNT.