Speed without the thin study

There are three common ways to run an R&D study, and each one asks you to give something up: time, money, or defensibility. Here is an honest, side-by-side look at the trade-offs - and where an expert-led, AI-assisted model actually changes them.

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What "defensible" means here, concretely. Every figure in a Ricerca study is the end of a chain that starts in one of your own systems. That chain is the difference between the three approaches below, and it is the thing an examination actually tests.

Illustrative structure of the substantiation chain behind a study. What a given engagement can evidence depends on the records it actually has.

The three models

What you are actually choosing between

Before the scorecard, the plain-language version - because the differences are structural, not stylistic.

Traditional consultants

Experienced people, manual process. Thorough when the engagement is well staffed - slow, costly, and opaque when it isn’t. You often never see the reasoning behind a number.

Automation-only platforms

A questionnaire, a classifier, and a PDF. Fast and cheap, and fine right up to the moment someone asks which alternatives your engineers actually evaluated.

Ricerca - expert-led, AI-assisted

The statute enforced in software, the study red-teamed before a human sees it, and experienced R&D experts making every qualification call that matters.

Traditional vs. automation-only vs. Ricerca

Comparison of R&D study approaches
Dimension	Traditional consultants	Automation-only platforms	Ricerca (expert-led + AI)
Turnaround speed	Slow - often months	Fast	Fast - typically weeks
Cost efficiency	Expensive	Low	Efficient
Expert review & finalization	Sometimes	None	Every study, finalized
Audit-ready substantiation	Varies by firm	Often thin	Four-part-test mapped
Audit Protection	Often an add-on	None	Included
Data security	Varies	Varies	Encrypted, §7216-aware routing
§174A / OBBBA expertise	Sometimes	Rarely	Built in
Human support	High	Mostly self-serve	High - with R&D experts
Technology / AI assistance	Limited	Core	Core, with oversight
Transparency	Often opaque	Black box	Sourced & explainable

Illustrative / for general comparison. This compares delivery approaches in general terms - not measured benchmarks, and not a statement about any specific provider. Individual results vary.

See the same comparison scored 0-5

Traditional consultants Automation-only platforms Ricerca (expert-led + AI-assisted)

Illustrative / for general comparison. Relative scores (0-5) compare delivery approaches, not measured benchmarks, and are not a claim about any specific competitor. Individual results vary.

View data

Illustrative comparison scores (0-5) across delivery approaches
Dimension	Traditional consultants	Automation-only platforms	Ricerca (expert-led + AI-assisted)
Turnaround speed	2	5	4
Cost efficiency	2	5	4
Expert review & finalization	4	1	5
Audit-ready substantiation	4	2	5
Audit Protection	2	1	5
Data security	3	3	5
§174A / OBBBA expertise	3	2	5
Human support	4	1	5
Technology / AI assistance	1	5	5
Transparency	2	3	5

Defensible by construction - not promised by a salesperson.

Most platforms treat §41 as a label an AI applies and a human defends later. Ricerca enforces the statute in software, so every position is tested against the actual rules before a dollar is claimed - then finalized by experienced R&D experts.

Four-part test, enforced

Every business component is evaluated against all four parts of the IRC §41(d) test in software - permitted purpose, technological nature, uncertainty, and a process of experimentation - not just tagged “qualified.” How the test works.

§41(d)(4) exclusion screens

Each project is screened for the statutory exclusions - research after commercial production, adaptation, duplication, surveys, routine data collection, internal-use software, and more - so excluded work is caught up front rather than argued about later.

Funded & contract analysis

We apply the funded-research and rights-and-risk tests to contract work, and document the alternatives your team evaluated - the analysis examiners probe first and thin studies skip.

§41(f) controlled group

Related-entity aggregation under §41(f) is determined and applied, so the credit is computed correctly across a controlled group rather than entity-by-entity.

Form 6765 - Section G ready

Built for the Dec. 2024 revision of Form 6765, including business-component-level Section G detail - the granularity the IRS now expects. What that reporting asks for.

Federal + state, together

We compute the federal §41 credit and applicable state R&D credits from the same qualified base - the state benefit most studies leave behind.

None of this is a workflow preference. It is the difference between a number and a defensible computation - and it is why the platform refuses to finalize a study the substantiation doesn’t support.

On the record

The claims we won’t make - and why that’s the point.

In a market full of guarantees, the useful signal is what a vendor refuses to say. Here is ours, in writing.

No borrowed proof

No client logos, no case studies, no star ratings, no "companies like yours" testimonials. If we can’t evidence it, it isn’t on this site.

No badges we haven’t earned

We don’t hold SOC 2 today, so you won’t find the seal here. What we do hold up is the control set itself - encryption, §7216 redaction before AI processing, enterprise-only model routing.

No promised outcome

Qualification is fact-specific. We tell you what your facts support, including when the answer is "less than you hoped" or "not this component."

No vague representation claim

Audit Protection means we prepare the examination response, the documentation, and the technical defense of our study, working alongside your tax preparer. Representation before the IRS, where it is needed, is performed by credentialed practitioners.

The full terms of what Audit Protection covers - and what it does not - are on the Audit Protection page.

Decision guide

Start where you actually are.

Four situations, four honest next steps. None of them require talking to us first.

You’ve never claimed the credit

Size it before you commit to anything. Run the estimator on last year’s R&D payroll, then let us pressure-test the assumptions - first-time claims are where the base-period and method choices matter most.

Run the estimator How a study runs

You have a study, but it’s thin

If your file is a spreadsheet and one narrative for the whole company, the number may be fine and the substantiation is not. Component-level evidence is what an examination is decided on.

What documentation requires Audit Protection

You’re pre-revenue and owe no income tax

A credit you cannot use this year is not cash. A qualified small business may elect to apply the credit against employer payroll taxes instead - the path that turns the study into money now.

The §41(h) payroll offset Get your free credit estimate

You’re a CPA firm running studies for clients

Keep the relationship, drop the production burden. The firm portal runs every client engagement from one dashboard, and your team reviews the computations before anything is issued.

How it works for CPA firms The firm portal Talk to our team

Not sure which one you are? That is a normal answer - the three-question intake sorts it out, or read how a study runs and what qualifies in your industry first.

The short version

Automation-only tools are fast but thin and unaccountable. Traditional consultants are thorough but slow and costly. Ricerca gives you the speed of AI and the accountability of experienced R&D experts - with documentation built to defend, Audit Protection included, and current §174A expertise built in.

Next: how a study actually runs, or what the platform enforces.

See the difference on your own study

Answer three short questions about your R&D and we’ll come back with what a Ricerca study could capture - the §41 credit and the §174A deduction - plus pricing for your situation.

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