M is a multinational IT company with headquarters in Asia and with operations in all...

CIMA P3 Question Answer

M is a multinational IT company with headquarters in Asia and with operations in all continents.

It is now trying to expand its operations in Europe. This is seen as a major challenge as the European market is very well developed with established players in fierce competition against each other.

As well as developing and producing its own products, it sources products across Asia, America and Europe as part of infrastructure deals which have to include as much of its own equipment as possible. In doing this, transfer prices can be set in YEN, USD, EURO, GBP. Transfer prices are revised every month in line with production times as most goods are made on short order times with sales cycles running at 3-4 months.

The longer sales cycle against committed transfer pricing presents problems as customers expect quotes to be valid for 90 days whereas M's suppliers reserve the right to revise pricing at the end of every month with quotes only valid for 8 days in the following month.

How should M deal with this problem?

Use a centralised treasury function to set up unilateral netting so that all trades can be balanced off against each other before any money is transferred.

Offer a small discount for any customers who pay in M's home currency.

Do nothing, everyone is in the same situation.

Incentivise sales persons to be more accurate when forecasting prices.