48 CFR § 9904.403-40 - Fundamental requirement.

(a)

(1) Home office expenses shall be allocated on the basis of the beneficial or causal relationship between supporting and receiving activities. Such expenses shall be allocated directly to segments to the maximum extent practical. Expenses not directly allocated, if significant in amount and in relation to total home office expenses, shall be grouped in logical and homogeneous expense pools and allocated pursuant to paragraph (b) of this subsection. Such allocations shall minimize to the extent practical the amount of expenses which may be categorized as residual (those of managing the organization as a whole). These residual expenses shall be allocated pursuant to paragraph (c) of this subsection.

(2) No segment shall have allocated to it as an indirect cost, either through a homogeneous expense pool, or the residual expense pool, any cost, if other costs incurred for the same purpose have been allocated directly to that or any other segment.

(b) The following subparagraphs provide criteria for allocation of groups of home office expenses.

(1) Centralized service functions. Expenses of centralized service functions performed by a home office for its segments shall be allocated to segments on the basis of the service furnished to or received by each segment. Centralized service functions performed by a home office for its segments are considered to consist of specific functions which, but for the existence of a home office, would be performed or acquired by some or all of the segments individually. Examples include centrally performed personnel administration and centralized data processing.

(2) Staff management of certain specific activities of segments. The expenses incurred by a home office for staff management or policy guidance functions which are significant in amount and in relation to total home office expenses shall be allocated to segments receiving more than a minimal benefit over a base, or bases, representative of the total specific activity being managed. Staff management or policy guidance to segments is commonly provided in the overall direction or support of the performance of discrete segment activities such as manufacturing, accounting, and engineering (but see paragraph (b)(6) of this subsection).

(3) Line management of particular segments or groups of segments. The expense of line management shall be allocated only to the particular segment or group of segments which are being managed or supervised. If more than one segment is managed or supervised, the expense shall be allocated using a base or bases representative of the total activity of such segments. Line management is considered to consist of management or supervision of a segment or group of segments as a whole.

(4) Central payments or accruals. Central payments or accruals which are made by a home office on behalf of its segments shall be allocated directly to segments to the extent that all such payments or accruals of a given type or class can be identified specifically with individual segments. Central payments or accruals are those which but for the existence of a number of segments would be accrued or paid by the individual segments. Common examples include centrally paid or accrued pension costs, group insurance costs, State and local income taxes and franchise taxes, and payrolls paid by a home office on behalf of its segments. Any such types of payments or accruals which cannot be identified specifically with individual segments shall be allocated to benefitted segments using an allocation base representative of the factors on which the total payment is based.

(5) Independent research and development costs and bid and proposal costs. Independent research and development costs and bid and proposal costs of a home office shall be allocated in accordance with 9904.420.

(6) Staff management not identifiable with any certain specific activities of segments. The expenses incurred by a home office for staff management, supervisory, or policy functions, which are not identifiable to specific activities of segments shall be allocated in accordance with paragraph (c) of this subsection as residual expenses.

(c) Residual expenses.

(1) All home office expenses which are not allocable in accordance with paragraph (a) of this subsection and paragraphs (b)(1) through (b)(5) of this subsection shall be deemed residual expenses. Typical residual expenses are those for the chief executive, the chief financial officer, and any staff which are not identifiable with specific activities of segments. Residual expenses shall be allocated to all segments under a home office by means of a base representative of the total activity of such segments, except where paragraph (c) (2) or (3) of this subsection applies.

(2) Residual expenses shall be allocated pursuant to 9904.403–50(c)(1) if the total amount of such expenses for the contractor's previous fiscal year (excluding any unallowable costs and before eliminating any amounts to be allocated in accordance with paragraph (c)(3) of this subsection) exceeds the amount obtained by applying the following percentage(s) to the aggregate operating revenue of all segments for such previous year: 3.35 percent of the first $100 million; 0.95 percent of the next $200 million; 0.30 percent of the next $2.7 billion; 0.20 percent of all amounts over $3 billion. The determination required by this paragraph for the 1st year the contractor is subject to this Standard shall be based on the pro forma application of this Standard to the home office expenses and aggregate operating revenue for the contractor's previous fiscal year.

(3) Where a particular segment receives significantly more or less benefit from residual expenses than would be reflected by the allocation of such expenses pursuant to paragraph (c) (1) or (2) of this subsection (see 9904.403–50(d)), the Government and the contractor may agree to a special allocation of residual expenses to such segment commensurate with the benefits received. The amount of a special allocation to any segment made pursuant to such an agreement shall be excluded from the pool of residual expenses to be allocated pursuant to paragraph (c) (1) or (2) of this subsection, and such segment's data shall be excluded from the base used to allocate this pool.