Perfect Paints Ltd manufactures decorative paint at its factory in Wadeville, Johannesburg since its establishment on 1 April 2022. Two basic product ranges are manufactured, namely the ProTouch and BestGuard ranges. ProTouch is available in 15 different colours and is for interior use. BestGuard, which is for outdoor use, has a textured, matt finish and is also available in 15 different colours. Paint is sold in 20 litre containers to hardware stores and paint shops. Perfect Paints also distributes 20 litre containers of paint directly to building contractors and property developers. Perfect Paints Ltd has one production line and as a result paint is manufactured in batches. Standard production batches are 200 containers (20 litres each) of paint for ProTouch and 50 containers (20 litres each) of paint for BestGuard. The difference in batch size arises because more additives are required during the production of the BestGuard range to achieve the textured, matt finish. BestGuard also requires more labour time. Machines in the production line need to be reset and cleaned after each batch of paint has been produced and set-up costs are incurred for each new batch. Perfect Paints Ltd estimates the demand for different colours in the two product ranges and manufactures accordingly. Pigments and colourants are added during the production process to produce the different colours. These pigments and colourants are purchased from one supplier, who supplies them in pre-measured quantities. Within each product range, there is no difference in the cost of manufacturing various colours. In other words, the cost of producing a 20-litre container of light blue ProTouch is the same as for a 20-litre container of burnt orange ProTouch, and the same applies to BestGuard colours. The following is an extract from the budgeted financial information of Perfect Paints Ltd for the year ending 31 March 2021. PERFECT PAINTS LTD BUDGETED FINANCIAL INFORMATION FOR THE YEAR ENDING 31 MARCH 2024 Notes ProTouch BestGuard Number of 20 litres containers of paint produced and sold 1 100 000 50 000 Rands Rands Selling price per 20 litre containers 2 595.00 765.00 Manufacturing cost per 20 litre containers Direct materials 205.00 230.00 Direct labour 3 100.00 125.00 Manufacturing overheads 4 207.00 259.00 Gross profit per 20 litre containers 83.00 151.00 1. Perfect Paints Ltd has budgeted to produce and sell 150 000 containers of finished product in the 2021 financial year based on feedback from customers regarding potential demand and published reports on industry growth. Machine hours are limited to 6 000 for the year ending 31 March 2024. Each machine hour yields 50 containers of ProTouch paint or 25 containers of BestGuard paint. Planned production of ProTouch is 8 500 containers of paint per month for every month during the financial year except during December, when production will decrease to 6 500 containers of paint. Containers of BestGuard paint will not be manufactured during December and January because of builders holidays. Planned production for the rest of the year is 5 000 containers of BestGuard paint per month. 5 2. Perfect Paints Ltd sells 20 litre containers of paint at the same price to retailers as it does to building contractors and property developers. 3. Direct labour is sourced from a local labour broker who ensures that labourers are available at the request of Perfect Paints Ltd to meet the production schedule. The labour broker is paid R50.00 per hour. Labour brokers in this industry earn an average of 7 to 10% of the fee charged to clients. 4. Budgeted manufacturing overheads for the year ending 31 March 2024 are as follows: R000 Nature of cost Batch set-up cost 7 600 Fixed and variable Water and electricity 7 500 Variable Rental of factory premises 4 800 Fixed Depreciation of machinery 3 750 Fixed Salaries 7 800 Fixed Other manufacturing overheads 2 200 Fixed and variable 33 650 Manufacturing overheads include both fixed and variable costs. Variable manufacturing overheads have been allocated to ProTouch and BestGuard products following a detailed analysis of production activities and related costs. However, fixed manufacturing overheads have been allocated to finished products based on the total planned production (150 000 containers of paint) of Perfect Paints Ltd for the year ending 31 March 2024. In the 31 March 2023 financial year, Perfect Paints Ltd produced 75 000 containers of ProTouch paint and 50 000 containers of BestGuard paint at the total manufacturing overheads of R213.00 per container of ProTouch and R319.50 per container of BestGuard paint produced, using the same allocation bases described above. Perfect Paints Ltd was able to sell all the containers produced in the previous year. Operating expenses Operating expenses of Perfect Paints Ltd comprises selling, distribution and administration costs which have been budgeted at R10 per container sold and fixed costs of R14 785 000 for the 31 March 2024. Perfect Paints Ltd is going to allocate the fixed cost based on the revenue earned