That's how poorly administered the system is. I've seen companies go through SR&ED and it's fairly random whether the paperwork is going to be accepted.

Some companies document everything and end up being rejected for a random formerly unknown minutia, whereas other companies document less, and ultimately get approved for a bad claim.

Anyone I've talked to who's even been close to the process (a claimant, a technical contact, an interviewee, an administrator) have had traumatic experiences with the process.

You can have bad claims approved by very thorough and costly audits if the standard is poorly set (as is the case with SRED).