(a) Briefly explain the following terms as used in accounting for returnable containers:
(i) charge-out price (2 marks)
(ii) Credit-back price (2 marks)
(b) Jiko Ltd. supplies cooking gas in 10 kilogramme cylinders which are returnable after use. The cylinders
are purchased at Sh. 500 each and are valued at Sh. 400 for stocktaking purposes.
On issue of the cylinders to customers, a deposit of Sh.600 is paid per cylinder of which Sh.520 is
refunded to customers on return of a cylinder within a period of three months.
On 1 January 2002, there were 2,000 cylinders in the company’s warehouse and 8,000 cylinders in the
hands of customers in respect of which the return period had not expired.
During the year ended 31 December 2002, the company purchased 6,000 new cylinders at the normal
purchase price but returned 200 cylinders to the supplier due to defects detected on inspection. A credit
of Sh. 100,000 was given by the supplier for the returned cylinders. For the year ended 31 December
2002, customers were issued with 72,000 cylinders and they returned 68,000 cylinders. As at 31
December 2002, the customers held 10,000 cylinders which had been issued within the previous three
months.
For safety purposes the cylinder returned by customers were thoroughly inspected and repaired for any
damages or defects. On average, Sh. 40 was spent as inspection and repair costs per cylinder returned by
a customer.
Due to wear and tear: 250 cylinders were confirmed to be unsafe for use. These were sold to a crap
metal dealer at Sh. 180 each.
On 31 December 2002, stocktaking revealed that there were only 3,500 cylinders in the warehouse. The
deficit was treated as a loss.