Transfer Pricing Based on Actual Cost

Abstract

This paper analyzes a simple transfer-pricing policy based on the actual cost of production. I show that the performance of actual cost-based transfer pricing can be improved by using an additive markup above the unit production cost. I also show that this additive policy dominates an entire class of alternative markup policies, including the more common multiplicative policy, in which the transfer price is set at the actual cost plus a percentage markup. The optimal additive markup is shown to increase with increasing prices for the firm's product, and decrease with the cost of the supplying division's investment.