Design costs and r& d costs are not considered product costs for financial statement purposes. when might some of these costs be regarded as product costs? give an example. a. preparing financial statements for external reporting under generally accepted accounting principles (gaap). under gaap, design costs and r& d costs can be assigned to inventories although internal management reports must exclude these nonmanufacturing costs. b. contracting with government agencies. for example, if the department of energy negotiated a project with a contractor and the design costs and r& d costs are not closely related to delivering products under the contract. c. contracting with government agencies. for example, if the air force negotiated to contract with a company to build a new type of supersonic fighter plane, design costs and r& d costs may be included in the contract as product costs. d. none of the above. design costs and r& d costs can never be regarded as product costs.