A Fellow Student of Yours Who Has Just Completed a Course

question 18

Essay

A fellow student of yours who has just completed a course in management accounting recently made the following comment to you regarding the establishment of transfer prices for transnational transfers of goods and services within the same company: "In the process of preparing consolidated financial statements, all profit and loss attributable to internal transfers of goods and services are removed. The amount of profit a company reports is therefore affected only by transactions with external parties. Therefore, the subject of transfer pricing may be important for motivational purposes or some other managerial objective, but the choice of a transfer pricing system has no effect on the bottom line, even when transfers are made between units of a company operating in different countries."
Required:
Critically analyze and respond to the above assertion.

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Definitions:

Fixed Costs

Costs that remain constant regardless of a company's level of activity, including expenses like lease payments, wages, and premiums.

Break-even Point

The point at which total costs and total revenue are equal, meaning no net loss or gain, and the business has "broken even."

Sales Dollars

A term used to represent the total value, in monetary terms, of all sales transactions within a specified period.

Variable Costs

Operating expenses that fluctuate based on business operations.