According to the Sectional Titles Act 95 of 1986, levies are assigned according to the
size of a unit, in other words a unit’s participation quota. These levies are used to
finance a complex’s insurance, common property electricity and water, lift
maintenance, audit fees, management agent fees, salaries and wages, security,
swimming pool expenses and general building maintenance. According to the
Traditional Costing System, indirect costs are allocated based on a single cost actual expenses over a year are dissected. A regression and correlation analysis
was done on the relationship between costs, participation quota and levies. The
contribution of the study is that it empirically determines the behaviour of cost items
in order to allocate indirect costs more accurately. Consequently, this will result in
improved reasonability and will eliminate the cross-subsidisation of units.
The objectives were reached as follows: The first objective was reached when it was
proved through empirical studies that the Sectional Title is not fair when it states that
the allocation of levies must be according to floor space. The second objective was
reached when both participation quota and units per complex were identified as cost
drivers for each cost item. The third objective was reached by allocating the levy on
a 50 percent base according to units and a 50 percent base according to the total
area. This could be refined by each complex according to the unique need of the
complex.
driver. However, various indirect costs are not necessarily subject to this single cost
driver. In practice, it has been proven that high volume products are proportionally
taxed with indirect costs when compared to low volume products. In many
complexes, owners with larger units are of the opinion that their larger units are
subsidising those owners with smaller units. In contrast to the traditional costing
system, activity-based costing recognises that indirect costs can also be assigned by
use of multiple cost drivers. Since these multiple cost drivers – which affect the way
costs are assigned – can be identified, indirect costs are assigned more accurately.
This study investigates the current method of cost allocation, whereby costs are
assigned via participation quota, and makes suggestions on how these costs can be
assigned on a more accurate and fair basis in practice.
The goal of this study is to challenge the reasonability of the Sectional Titles Act. The
objectives of the dissertation are firstly, to determine the cost behaviour of various
cost items and whether the participation quota is a fair cost driver for determining the
levies that are to be paid; secondly, it investigates alternative cost drivers that will be
more applicable to certain cost items; thirdly, to suggest a cost formula to replace the
current cost method, that being the allocation of indirect costs via participation quota.
Empirical methods have been used in the research. The empirical research was
performed using data obtained from ANGOR Property Specialists (Pty) Ltd’s
database. A sample of 113 complexes was extracted from the database of which the / Thesis (M.Com. (Management Accountancy))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NWUBOLOKA1/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/11096 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Smit, Mathys Christiaan |
| Source Sets | North-West University |
| Language | other |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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