Accounting and taxation practices of selected mining exploration companies in South Africa

Abstract

The promulgation of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act 28 of 2002 (MPRDA) led to a significant increase in the number of junior exploration companies. In this regard, International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 6 allows companies to develop their own accounting policies for exploration and evaluation expenditure. However, there is no definition of either prospecting or exploration in the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962 (Income Tax Act). The objective of this study was to perform a literature review and to carry out empirical research by using questionnaires that were distributed to junior exploration companies to investigate whether accounting and taxation practices are consistently applied. Accordingly, the findings confirmed that the accounting and taxation practices followed by junior exploration companies are not consistently applied.