Title 48

SECTION 9904.420-60

9904.420-60 Illustrations.

(a) Business Unit A's engineering department in accordance with its established accounting practice, charges administrative effort including typing its overhead cost pool. In submitting a proposal, the engineering department assigns several typists to the proposal project on a full time basis and charges the typists' time directly to the proposal project, rather than to its overhead pool. Because the engineering department under its established accounting practice does not charge the cost of typing directly to final cost objectives, the direct charge does not meet with the requirements of 9904.420-50(a).

(b) Company B has five segments. The company undertakes an IR&D project which is part of IR&D plans of segments X, Y, and Z, and will be of general benefit to all five segments. The company designates Segment Z as the project leader in performing the project. In accumulating the costs, each segment allocates overhead to its part of the project but does not allocate segment G&A. The IR&D costs are then allocated to the home office by each segment. The costs are combined with other IR&D costs that benefit the company as a whole. The costs are allocated to all five segments by means of the same base by which the company allocates its residual home office expense costs of all segments. This practice meets the requirements of 9904.420-40(b), 9904.420-50(e)(2), and 9904.420-50(f)(1).

(c) Business Unit C normally accounts for its B&P effort by individual project. It accumulates directly allocated costs and departmental overhead costs by project. The business unit also submits large numbers of bids and proposals whose individual costs of preparation are not material in amount. The business unit collects the cost of these efforts under a single project. Since the cost of preparing each individual bid and proposal is not material, the practice of accumulating these costs in a single project meets the requirements of 9904.420-50(c).

(d) Segment D requests that Segment Y provide support for a Segment D IR&D project. The work being performed by Segment Y is similar in nature to Segment Y's normal product and is not part of its annual IR&D plan. Segment Y allocates to the project all costs it allocates to other final cost objectives, including G&A expense. Segment Y then directly transfers the cost of the project to Segment D in accordance with its normal intersegment transfer procedure. The accounting treatment meets the requirements of 9904.420-50(d) and 9904.410.

(e)(1) Contractor E has six operating segments and a research segment. The research segment performs work under:

(i) Research and development contracts,

(ii) Projects which are not part of its own IR&D plan but are specifically in support of other segments' IR&D projects, and

(iii) IR&D projects for the benefit of the company as a whole.

(2) The research segment directly allocates the cost of the projects in support of another segment's IR&D projects, including an allocation of its general and administrative expenses, to the receiving segment. This practice meets the requirements of 9904.420-50(d).

(3) The costs of the IR&D projects which benefit the company as a whole exclude any allocation of the research segment's general and administrative expenses and are transferred to the home office. The home office allocates these costs on the same base it uses to allocate its residual expenses to all seven segments. This practice meets the requirements of 9904.420-50 (e)(2) and (f)(1).

(f) Company F accumulates at the home office the costs of IR&D and B&P projects which generally benefit all segments of the company except Segment X. The company and the contracting officer agree that the nature of the business activity of Segment X is such that the home office IR&D and B&P effort is neither caused by nor provides any benefit to that segment. For the purpose of allocating its home office residual expenses, the company uses a base as provided in 9904.403. For the purpose of allocating the home office IR&D and B&P costs, the company removes the data of Segment X from the base used for the allocation of its residual expenses. This practice meets the requirements of 9904.420-50(e)(2).

(g) Company G has 10 segments. Segment X performs IR&D projects, the results of which benefit it and two other segments but none of the other seven segments. The cost of those projects performed by Segment X are transferred to the home office and allocated to the three segments on the basis of the benefits received by the three segments. This practice meets the requirements of 9904.420-50(e)(1) and 9904.420-50(f)(1).