2 The Information Technology division (IT) of the RJ Business Consulting Group provides co

题目

2 The Information Technology division (IT) of the RJ Business Consulting Group provides consulting services to its

clients as well as to other divisions within the group. Consultants always work in teams of two on every consulting

day. Each consulting day is charged to external clients at £750 which represents cost plus 150% profit mark up. The

total cost per consulting day has been estimated as being 80% variable and 20% fixed.

The director of the Human Resources (HR) division of RJ Business Consulting Group has requested the services of

two teams of consultants from the IT division on five days per week for a period of 48 weeks, and has suggested that

she meets with the director of the IT division in order to negotiate a transfer price. The director of the IT division has

responded by stating that he is aware of the limitations of using negotiated transfer prices and intends to charge the

HR division £750 per consulting day.

The IT division always uses ‘state of the art’ video-conferencing equipment on all internal consultations which would

reduce the variable costs by £50 per consulting day. Note: this equipment can only be used when providing internal

consultations.

Required:

(a) Calculate and discuss the transfer prices per consulting day at which the IT division should provide

consulting services to the HR division in order to ensure that the profit of the RJ Business Consulting Group

is maximised in each of the following situations:

(i) Every pair of consultants in the IT division is 100% utilised during the required 48-week period in

providing consulting services to external clients, i.e. there is no spare capacity.

(ii) There is one team of consultants who, being free from other commitments, would be available to

undertake the provision of services to the HR division during the required 48-week period. All other

teams of consultants would be 100% utilised in providing consulting services to external clients.

(iii) A major client has offered to pay the IT division £264,000 for the services of two teams of consultants

during the required 48-week period.

(12 marks)

参考答案和解析
正确答案:
(a) (i) The transfer price of £750 proposed by the IT division is based on cost plus 150% from which it can be deduced that
the total cost of a consulting day is (100/250) x £750 = £300. This comprises £240 (80%) variable cost and £60
(20%) fixed cost. In this instance the transfer price should be set at marginal costs plus opportunity cost. It is assumed
in this situation that transferring internally would result in the IT division having a lost contribution of £750 – £240 =
£510 per consulting day. The marginal cost of the transfer of services to the HR division is £190 (£240 external variable
costs less £50 saving due to use of internal video-conferencing equipment). Adding the opportunity cost of £510 gives
a transfer price of £700 per consulting day. This is equivalent to using market price as a basis for transfer pricing where
the transfer price is set at the external market price (£750) less any costs avoided (£50) by transferring internally.
(ii) There is in effect no external market available for one of the required pairs of consultants within the IT division and
therefore opportunity cost will not apply and transfers should be made at the variable cost per consulting day of £190.
The other pair of consultants, who would otherwise be 100% utilised in providing consulting services to external clients,
should be charged at a rate of £700 per day which represents marginal cost plus opportunity cost.
(iii) The lost contribution from the major client amounts to £264,000/(2 x 240) = £550 less variable costs of £240 =
£310 per consulting day. Thus, in this instance the transfer price should be the contribution foregone of £310 plus
internal variable costs of £190 making a total of £500 per consulting day.
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