RELEVANT TO ACCA QUALIFICATION PAPER F6 （UK）
　　2013 ACCA
　　Benefits
　　This article is relevant to those of you taking Paper F6 （UK） in either the June or
　　December 2013 sittings, and is based on tax legislation as it applies to the tax year
　　2012 3 （Finance Act 2012）。
　　Benefits feature regularly in the Paper F6 （UK） exam, although such questions are
　　generally not answered as well as would be expected. The article is not intended to
　　cover every aspect of benefits, but instead mainly covers those areas that are more
　　commonly examined. Motor cars are not covered as they are dealt with in a separate
　　article.
　　LIVING ACCOMMODATION
　　There are four aspects to consider:
　　The basic benefit is the annual value of the property. If the property is rented
　　then the basic benefit is the higher of the annual value and the amount of rent
　　paid.
　　There is an additional benefit if the property costs more than 5,000. This is
　　calculated as:
　?。–ost 5,000） x 4% （the official rate of interest）
　　Cost is the cost of the property plus any subsequent improvements. However,
　　where the property was purchased more than six years before first being
　　provided to the employee, then the cost figure is replaced by the market value
　　when first provided （again plus any subsequent improvements）。
　　If the employer pays for the running costs relating to the property then the
　　amount paid will also be a benefit.
　　If the employer has furnished the property, then the benefit for the use of the
　　furniture is based on 20% of its cost.
　　EXAMPLE 1
　　During the tax year 2012 3 Prop plc provided three of its employees with living
　　accommodation.
　　Alex has been provided with living accommodation since 1 January 2010. Prop plc
　　had purchased the property in 2009 for 60,000, and it was valued at 85,000 on
　　1 January 2010. Improvements costing 3,000 were made to the property during
　　June 2011. The annual value of the property is ,100.
　　Bess was provided with living accommodation from 1 January to 5 April 2013. The
　　property is rented by Prop plc at a cost of ,250 per month, and it has an annual
　　value of 0,400. On 1 January 2013 Prop plc purchased furniture for the property at
　　a cost of 6,200. The company pays for the running costs relating to the property,
　　and for the period 1 January to 5 April 2013 these amounted to ,900.
　　2
　　BENEFITS
　　JANUARY 2013
　　2013 ACCA
　　Chloe was provided with living accommodation on 6 April 2012, and she lived in the
　　property throughout the tax year 2012 3. The company had purchased the property
　　in 2003 for 9,000, and it was valued at 44,000 on 6 April 2012. The annual value
　　of the property is ,600.
　　Alex
　　The basic benefit is the annual value of ,100.
　　The living accommodation cost in excess of 5,000 so there is an additional
　　benefit. Since the property was not purchased more than six years before first
　　being provided to Alex, the benefit is based on the cost of the property plus
　　subsequent improvements. The additional benefit is therefore ,920 （98,000
　?。?60,000 + 13,000 75,000） at 4%）。
　　Bess
　　The benefit is the rent paid of ,750 （2,250 x 3） since this is higher than the
　　annual value of ,600 （10,400 x 3/12）。
　　The benefit in respect of the furniture is 10 （16,200 x 20% x 3/12）。
　　The running costs of ,900 are also taxed as a benefit.
　　Chloe
　　The basic benefit is the annual value of ,600.
　　The living accommodation cost in excess of 5,000, so there is an additional
　　benefit. Since the property was purchased more than six years before first
　　being provided, the benefit is based on the market value when first provided.
　　The additional benefit is therefore ,760 （69,000 （144,000 75,000） at 4%）。
　　BENEFICIAL LOANS
　　There is a taxable benefit where an employee is provided with an interest free loan or
　　where the interest rate payable is below the official rate of interest of 4%. There are
　　two alternative methods of calculating the benefit:
　　The average method: The average is taken of the amount outstanding at the start of
　　the tax year （or when the loan was made if later） and at the end of the tax year （or
　　when the loan was repaid if earlier）。 The official rate of interest is then applied to this
　　average.
　　The strict method: The official rate of interest is applied to the amount outstanding on
　　a monthly basis.
　　If no repayments have been made during the tax year then both methods will produce
　　the same result.
　　The average method applies unless either the employee or HM Revenue and Customs
　?。℉MRC） elects for the strict method. In an exam context, both methods should be
　　calculated, even if one party will opt for the strict method. However, a question might
　　instruct you to just use the average method, since in reality HMRC only elect for the
　　strict method when it will make a significant difference.
　　3
　　BENEFITS
　　JANUARY 2013
　　2013 ACCA
　　EXAMPLE 2
　　During the tax year 2012 3 Rest Ltd provided three of its employees with loans.
　　Kim was provided with an interest free loan of 2,000 on 1 June 2012 so that she
　　could purchase a new motor car.
　　Ming was provided with an interest free loan of 20,000 on 1 May 2012 so that she
　　could purchase a holiday cottage. Ming repaid 0,000 of the loan on 31 July 2012,
　　and repaid the balance of the loan of 0,000 on 31 December 2012.
　　Newt was provided with a loan during 2010 so that she could purchase a yacht. The
　　amount of loan outstanding at 6 April 2012 was 0,000, and Newt repaid ,000 of
　　the loan on 31 August 2012, and then repaid a further ,000 on 28 February 2013.
　　Newt paid loan interest of 70 to Rest Ltd during the tax year 2012 3. The taxable
　　benefit in respect of this loan is calculated using the average method.
　　Kim
　　The benefit is 00 （12,000 at 4% x 10/12）。
　　Since no repayments have been made during the 2012 3 tax year both
　　methods will produce the same result.
　　Ming
　　The benefit calculated using the average method is ,533 as follows:
　　120,000 + 70,000 x 4% x 8/12 2,533
　　2 ______
　　The benefit using the strict method is ,367 as follows:
　　120,000 at 4% x 3/12 1,200
　　70,000 at 4% x 5/12 1,167
　　______
　　2,367
　　______
　　Ming will therefore elect to have the taxable benefit calculated according to the
　　strict method.
　　Newt
　　Newt repaid 0,000 （5,000 + 5,000） of the loan during 2012 3, so the
　　outstanding balance at 5 April 2013 is 0,000 （60,000 10,000）。
　　The benefit calculated using the average method is ,230 as follows:
　　60,000 + 50,000 x 4% 2,200
　　2
　　Interest paid （970）
　　______
　　1,230
　　______
　　4
　　BENEFITS
　　JANUARY 2013
　　Chapter 1
　　Advanced costing method
　　Chapter learning objectives
　　Upon completion of this chapter you will be able to:
　　§ explain what is meant by the term cost driver
　　§ identify appropriate cost drivers under activity-based costing （ABC）
　　§ calculate costs per driver and per unit using （ABC）
　　§ compare ABC and traditional methods of overhead absorption based on production units, labour hours or machine hours.
　　§ explain the implications of switching to ABC on pricing, performance management and decision making.
　　§ explain what is meant by the term ‘target cost’ in both manufacturing and service industries.
　　§ derive a target cost in both manufacturing and service industries.
　　§ explain the difficulties of using target costing in service industries
　　§ explain the implications of using target costing on pricing, cost control and performance management.
　　§ describe the target cost gap.
　　§ suggest how a target cost gap might be closed.
　　§ explain what is meant by the term ‘life-cycle costing’ in a manufacturing industry
　　§ identify the costs involved at different stages of the life-cycle.
　　§ explain the implications of life-cycle costing on pricing, performance management and decision making.
　　§ describe the process of back-flush accounting and contrast with traditional process accounting.
　　§ explain, for a manufacturing business, the implications of back-flush accounting on performance management
　　§ *uate the decision to switch to back-flush accounting from traditional process control for a manufacturing business.
　　§ explain throughput accounting and the throughput accounting ratio （TPAR）， and calculate and interpret, a TPAR.
　　§ suggest how a TPAR could be improved.
　　§ apply throughput accounting to a given multi-production decision making problem.
　　1 Activity based costing
　　1.1 Introduction – absorption cost
　　In F2 we saw how to determine a cost per unit for a product. Key issues of relevance here are the following:
　　Firms have the choice of two basic costing methods – marginal costing and absorption costing.
　　Under absorption costing it is necessary to absorb overheads into units of production using a suitable basis.
　　The main basis of absorption used in F2 questions is direct labour hours. This involves calculating an overhead absorption rate （OAR） for each production department as follows:
　　OAR =
　　To enable this, all overheads must first be allocated/apportioned/reapportioned into production departments, again using a suitable basis （e.g. rent on the basis of floor area）。
　　Overhead expenses incurred/budgeted
　　Step 1: Overheads allocated or apportioned to cost centres using suitable bases Cost centres （usually departments）
　　Step 2: Service centre costs reapportioned to production centres
　　Step 3: Overheads absorbed into units of production using an OAR （usually on the basis of direct labour hours） output
　　Expandable text
　　The assumption underlying the traditional method of costing is that overhead expenditure is connected to the volume of production activity.
　　§ This assumption was probably valid many years ago, when production system were based on labour-intensive or machine-intensive mass production of fairly standard items. Overhead costs were also fairly small relative to direct materials and direct labour costs; therefore any inaccuracy in the charging of overheads to products costs was not significant.
　　§ The assumption is not valid in a complex manufacturing environment, where production is based on smaller customised batches of products, indirect costs are high in relation to direct costs, and a high proportion of overhead activities – such as production scheduling, order handling and quality control – are not related to production volume.
　　§ For similar reasons, traditional absorption costing is not well-suited to the costing of many services.
 
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