Divisional performance measurement and transfer pricing for intangible assets

Springer Science and Business Media LLC - Tập 11 - Trang 339-365 - 2006
Nicole Bastian Johnson1
1Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, USA

Tóm tắt

This paper examines the effectiveness of three transfer pricing methodologies for an intangible asset that is developed through bilateral, sequential investment. In general, a royalty-based transfer price that can be renegotiated provides better investment incentives than either a non-negotiable royalty-based transfer price or a purely negotiated transfer price, and in some cases induces first-best investment. This result contrasts with previous research that finds that the inability to limit renegotiation of initial contracts reduces investment efficiency. Further, I examine how tax transfer pricing rules inform optimal internal transfer prices when the firm decouples internal and external transfer prices.

Tài liệu tham khảo

Aghion, P., Dewatripont, M., & Rey, P. (1994). Renegotiation design with unverifiable information. Econometrica, 62(2), 257–282. Anctil, R., & Dutta, S. (1999). Negotiated transfer pricing and divisional vs. firm-wide performance evaluation. The Accounting Review, 74(1), 87–104. Baldenius, T. (2000). Intrafirm trade, bargaining power and specific investments. Review of Accounting Studies, 5(1), 27–56. Baldenius, T., Melumad, N., & Reichelstein, S. (2004). Integrating managerial and tax objectives in transfer pricing. The Accounting Review, 79(3), 591–615. Baldenius, T., & Reichelstein, S. (2006). External and internal pricing in multidivisional firms. Journal of Accounting Research, forthcoming. Baldenius, T., Reichelstein, S., & Sahay, S. (1999). Negotiated versus cost-based transfer pricing. Review of Accounting Studies, 4(2), 67–91. Boos, M. (2003). International transfer pricing: the valuation of intangible assets. Kluwer Law International. Che, Y.-K., and Hausch, D. B. (1999). Cooperative investments and the value of contracting. The American Economic Review, 89(1), 125–147. Choe, C., & Hyde, C. (2005). Keeping two sets of books: The relationship between tax and incentive transfer prices. Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, 14(1), 165–186. Christensen, J., & Demski, J. S. (1998). Profit allocation under ancillary trade. Journal of Accounting Research, 36(1), 71–89. Christensen, P. O., Feltham, G. A., & Şabak, F. (2003). Dynamic incentives and responsibility accounting: A comment. Journal of Accounting and Economics, 35(3), 423–436. Chung, T.-Y. (1991). Incomplete contracts, specific investments, and risk sharing. The Review of Economic Studies, 58(5), 1031–1042. Durst, M. C. (2002). Management vs. tax accounting in intercompany transfer pricing. Tax Management Transfer Pricing Report, 10(21), 909–915. Dutta, S., & Reichelstein, S. (2003). Leading indicator variables, performance measurement and long-term versus short-term contracts. Journal of Accounting Research, 41(5), 837–866. Edlin, A. S., & Hermalin, B. E. (2000). Contract renegotiation and options in agency problems. Journal of Law, Economics and Organization, 16(2), 395–423. Edlin, A. S., & Reichelstein, S. (1995). Specific investment under negotiated transfer pricing: An efficiency result. The Accounting Review, 70(2), 275–291. Edlin, A. S., & Reichelstein, S. (1996). Holdups, standard breach remedies, and optimal investment. The American Economic Review, 86(3), 478–501. Edlin, A. S., & Shannon, C. (1998). Strict single crossing and the strict spence-mirrlees condition: A comment on monotone comparative statistics. Econometrica, 66(6), 1417–1425. Ernst and Young. (2003). Transfer Pricing 2003 Global Survey. http://www.ey.com. Grossman, S. J., & Hart, O. D. (1986). The costs and benefits of ownership: A theory of vertical and lateral integration. The Journal of Political Economy, 94(4), 691–719. Halperin, R., & Srinidhi, B. (1987). The effects of the U.S. income tax regulations’ transfer pricing rules on allocative efficiency. The Accounting Review, 62(4), 686–706. Halperin, R., & Srinidhi, B. (1996). U.S. income tax transfer pricing rules for intangibles as approximations of arm’s length pricing. The Accounting Review, 71(1), 61–80. Halperin, R. M., & Srinidhi, B. (1991). U.S. income tax transfer-pricing rules and resource allocation: The case of decentralized multinational firms. The Accounting Review, 66(1), 141–157. Harris, D. G., & Sansing, R. C. (1998). Distortions caused by the use of arm’s-length transfer prices. The Journal of the American Taxation Association, 20(Supplement), 40–50. Hirshleifer, J. (1956). On the economics of transfer pricing. Journal of Business, 29(3), 172–184. Indjejikian, R., & Nanda, D. (1999). Dynamic incentives and responsibility accounting. Journal of Accounting and Economics, 27(2), 177–201. Korn, E., & Lengsfeld, S. (2005). Duopolistic competition, taxes, and the arm’s-length principle. Working Paper Lulfesmann, C. (2001). Team production, sequential investments and stochastic payoffs. Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics, 157(3), 430–442. Nöldeke, G., & Schmidt, K. M. (1995). Option contracts and renegotiation: A solution to the hold-up problem. The RAND Journal of Economics, 26(2), 163–179. Nöldeke, G., & Schmidt, K. M. (1998). Sequential investments and options to own. The RAND Journal of Economics, 29(4), 633–653. Sahay, S. (2003). Transfer pricing based on actual cost. Journal of Management Accounting Research, 15, 177–192. Sansing, R. (1999). Relationship-specific investments and the transfer pricing paradox. Review of Accounting Studies, 4(2), 119–134. Smirnov, V., & Wait, A. (2004). Hold-up and sequential specific investments. The RAND Journal of Economics, 35(2), 386–400. Smith, M. (2002a). Ex ante and ex post discretion over arm’s length transfer prices. The Accounting Review, 77(1), 161–184. Smith, M. (2002b). Tax and incentive trade-offs in multinational transfer pricing. Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Finance, 17(3), 209–236. Springsteel, I. (1999). Separate but unequal. CFO Magazine. Vaysman, I. (1996). A model of cost-based transfer pricing. Review of Accounting Studies, 1, 73–108. Vaysman, I. (1998). A model of negotiated transfer pricing. Journal of Accounting and Economics, 25(3), 349–384. Wagenhofer, A. (1994). Transfer pricing under asymmetric information: An evaluation of alternative methods. European Accounting Review, 1, 71–104. Williamson, O. (1985). The economic institutions of capitalism. New York: Free Press.