Cost Accounting (14th Edition)

802 CHAPTER 22 MANAGEMENT CONTROL SYSTEMS, TRANSFER PRICING, AND MULTINATIONAL CONSIDERATIONS
b. From the point of view of Slate’s management, how much of the SD output should be transferred to
the AD?
c. If Slate mandates the SD and AD managers to “split the difference” on the minimum and maximum
transfer prices they would be willing to negotiate over, what would be the resulting transfer price?
Does this price achieve the outcome desired in requirement 3b?
22-28 Pertinent transfer price. Europa, Inc., has two divisions, A and B, that manufacture expensive
bicycles. Division A produces the bicycle frame, and division B assembles the rest of the bicycle onto the
frame. There is a market for both the subassembly and the final product. Each division has been designated
as a profit center. The transfer price for the subassembly has been set at the long-run average market price.
The following data are available for each division:
Selling price for final product $300
Long-run average selling price for intermediate product 200
Incremental cost per unit for completion in division B 150
Incremental cost per unit in division A 120
The manager of division B has made the following calculation:
Selling price for final product $300
Transferred-in cost per unit (market) $200
Incremental cost per unit for completion ƒ150 ƒ350
Contribution (loss) on product
$ƒ(50)
Required
Required
1. Should transfers be made to division B if there is no unused capacity in division A? Is the market price
the correct transfer price? Show your computations.
2. Assume that division A’s maximum capacity for this product is 1,000 units per month and sales to the
intermediate market are now 800 units. Should 200 units be transferred to division B? At what transfer
price? Assume that for a variety of reasons, division A will maintain the $200 selling price indefinitely.
That is, division A is not considering lowering the price to outsiders even if idle capacity exists.
3. Suppose division A quoted a transfer price of $150 for up to 200 units. What would be the contribution
to the company as a whole if a transfer were made? As manager of division B, would you be inclined to
buy at $150? Explain.
22-29 Pricing in imperfect markets (continuation of 22-28). Refer to Problem 22-28.
1. Suppose the manager of division A has the option of (a) cutting the external price to $195, with the certainty
that sales will rise to 1,000 units or (b) maintaining the external price of $200 for the 800 units and
transferring the 200 units to division B at a price that would produce the same operating income for
division A. What transfer price would produce the same operating income for division A? Is that price
consistent with that recommended by the general guideline in the chapter so that the resulting decision
would be desirable for the company as a whole?
2. Suppose that if the selling price for the intermediate product were dropped to $195, sales to external
parties could be increased to 900 units. Division B wants to acquire as many as 200 units if the transfer
price is acceptable. For simplicity, assume that there is no external market for the final 100 units of division
A’s capacity.
a. Using the general guideline, what is (are) the minimum transfer price(s) that should lead to the correct
economic decision? Ignore performance-evaluation considerations.
b. Compare the total contributions under the alternatives to show why the transfer price(s) recommended
lead(s) to the optimal economic decision.
22-30 Effect of alternative transfer-pricing methods on division operating income. Crango Products is a
cranberry cooperative that operates two divisions, a harvesting division and a processing division. Currently, all
of harvesting’s output is converted into cranberry juice by the processing division, and the juice is sold to large
beverage companies that produce cranberry juice blends. The processing division has a yield of 500 gallons of
juice per 1,000 pounds of cranberries. Cost and market price data for the two divisions are as follows:
1
2
3
4
A
Harvesting Division
Variable cost per pound of cranberries
Fixed cost per pound of cranberries
Selling price per pound of cranberries in outside market
B
$0.10
$0.25
$0.60
C
D
Processing Division
Variable processing cost per gallon of juice produced
Fixed cost per gallon of juice produced
Selling price per gallon of juice
E
$0.20
$0.40
$2.10