Flexible Management of Transfer Prices and Multiple Valuation Approach Based upon SAP ERP within the Context of International Controlling

Master's Thesis from the year 2014 in the subject Business economics - Controlling, grade: 1,7, University of Applied Sciences Fulda, course: Master of International Management, language: English, abstract: According to the estimations of the World Trade Organization, sixty percent of the whole world trade is being concluded within the multinational enterprises. This can be put down to the fact that globalization has had led the enterprises separate business processes into divisions and the concept of 'profit center' has gained currency in this regard. As a result of 'vertical integration' between these profit centers, there is an enormous volume of exchanged goods within multinationals. This development in the practice gave rise to debates on an already existing issue, 'Transfer Pricing', however, from another dimension. The inter-company transfer of goods has gone beyond the domestic boundaries, and become an important issue in the international context. International Transfer Pricing can be assumed as an opportunity as well as a confounding factor from the perspective of multinational enterprises. On the one side, it is possible to move profits between individual divisions and create tax advantages depending on the corporate tax rates in different tax jurisdictions. On the other side, it becomes more complex for companies to track down the effects of intra-company transfers, evaluate the efficiency of the divisions and the company as a whole and make optimal decisions accordingly. At this point, some academicians propose using a multiple set of books to determine Transfer Prices. In so doing, they argue that managerial requirements can be met and optimal decisions can be reached for the good of the group as a whole. In the light of this information, a software product named SAP® ERP® comes to attention with its unique feature in terms of determining Transfer Prices flexibly. The multiple valuation approach in this system enables the user set Transfer Prices in different valuation techniques, i.e. legal view, group view and profit center view. This study investigates the relationship between these two research objects; thus, aims to verify whether and up to which extent implementing such a system is functional and beneficial by composing Transfer Pricing and managerial requirements that come along with it.