Background

Transfer pricing is one of the most important issues in international tax.

Transfer pricing is the leading edge of what is wrong with international tax
Lee Sheppard, Tax Analysts, August 2012
Transfer pricing happens whenever two companies that are part of the same multinational group
trade with each other: when a US-based subidiary of Coca-Cola, for example, buys something from
a French-based subsidiary of Coca-Cola. When the parties establish a price for the transaction, this
is transfer pricing.
Transfer pricing is not, in itself, illegal or necessarily abusive. What is illegal or abusive is transfer
mispricing, also known as transfer pricing manipulation or abusive transfer pricing. (Transfer
mispricing is a form of a more general phenomenon known as trade mispricing, which includes trade
between unrelated or apparently unrelated parties an example is reinvoicing.)
It is estimated that about 60 percent of international trade happens within, rather than between,
multinationals: that is, across national boundaries but within the same corporate
group. Suggestions have been made that this figure may be closer to 70 percent.
Estimates vary as to how much tax revenue is lost by governments due to transfer mispricing. Global
Financial Integrity in Washington estimates the amount at several hundred billion dollars annually. A
March 2009 Christian Aid report estimated $1.1 trillion in bilateral trade mispricing into the
EU and the US alone from non-EU countries from 2005 to 2007. The Magnitudes section of
our website contains a range of estimates and data.
Were Not Broke, the Movie. Transfer pricing at its most entertaining
See also our page Taxing Corporations, for a basic overview of the corporation tax and its uses.

The Arms Length principle

If two unrelated companies trade with each other, a market price for the transaction will generally
result. This is known as arms-length trading, because it is the product of genuine negotiation in a
market. This arms length price is usually considered to be acceptable for tax purposes.
But when two related companies trade with each other, they may wish to artificially distort the price
at which the trade is recorded, to minimise the overall tax bill. This might, for example, help it record
as much of its profit as possible in a tax haven with low or zero taxes.
How does World Inc. shift its profits into a tax haven?
For example, World Inc. grows a crop in Africa, then harvests and processes it and
transports and sells the finished product in the United States. It has three subsidiaries:
Africa Inc. (in Africa), Haven Inc. (in a zero-tax haven) and USA Inc. (in the U.S.).
Africa Inc. sells the produce to Haven Inc. at an artificially low price. So Africa Inc. has
artificially low profits and therefore an artificially low tax bill in Africa. Then Haven Inc.
sells the product to USA Inc. at a very high price almost as high as the final retail price
at which USA Inc. sells the processed product. So USA Inc. also has artificially low
profits, and an artificially low tax bill in the U.S. But Haven Inc. is different: it has bought
cheaply and sold at a very high price, creating very high artificial profits. Yet it is located
in a tax haven so it pays no taxes on those profits. Voila! A tax bill disappears.
The example in the box illustrates how this is done. The Arms Length principle is supposed to stop
this by ensuring that the prices are recorded as if the trades were conducted at arms length. In
practice, it is unworkable in many if not most situations: a lot of multinational corporate tax avoidance
happens for this reason.
Consider what has happened in the example in the box with World Inc. These games have not
resulted in more efficient or cost-effective production, transport, distribution or retail processes in the
real world. The end result is, instead, that World Inc. has shifted its profits artificially out of both
Africa and the United States, and into a tax haven. As a result, tax dollars have been shifted
artificially away from both African and U.S. tax authorities, and have been converted into higher
profits for the multinational.
This is a core issue of tax justice and unlike many issues which are considered to be either
developing country issues or developed country issues in this case the citizens of both rich and
poor nations alike share a common set of concerns. Even so, developing countries are the most
vulnerable to transfer mispricing by multinational corporations.

Transfer mispricing: traditional

approaches
The conventional international approach to dealing with transfer mispricing is through the arms
length principle: that a transfer price should be the same as if the two companies involved were
indeed two unrelated parties negotiating in a normal market, and not part of the same corporate
structure. The OECD and the United Nations Tax Committee have both endorsed the arms length
principle, and it is widely used as the basis for bilateral treaties between governments.
Many companies strive to use the arms length principle faithfully. Many companies strive to move in
exactly the opposite direction. In truth, however, the arms length principle is very hard to implement,
even with the best intentions.
Imagine, for example, that two related parties are trading a tiny component for an aircraft engine,
which is only made for that engine, and not made by anyone else. There are no market comparisons
to be made, so the arms length price is not obvious. Or consider the case of a companys brand.
How much is the Shell Oil logo really worth? There is great scope for misunderstanding and for
deliberate mispricing providing much leeway for abuse, especially with regard to intellectual
property such as patents, trademarks, and other proprietary information.
The resulting damage from the prevalent arms length approach has been, and is, substantial.
Governments around the world are systematically hobbled in their ability to collect revenues from the
corporate tax system. Billions of dollars are wasted annually around the world on governmental
enforcement efforts that have little chance of success, and on meeting expensive compliance
requirements.

Alternative approaches: unitary

taxation with profit apportionment
While multinationals tend to favour the arms length principle as the basis for determining transfer
pricing it gives them tremendous leeway to minimise tax academics, some public sector and
private sector practitioners and, increasingly, non-governmental organisations, favour an alternative
approach: combined reporting, with formulary apportionment and Unitary Taxation. This would
prioritise the economic substance of a multinational and its transactions, instead of prioritising the
legal form in which a multinational organises itself and its transactions.
These terms may seem complex and baffling, but the basic principles are quite straightforward, and
the system is far simpler than the ineffective arms length method.
While the arms length principle gives multinational companies leeway to decide for themselves
where to shift their profits, the unitary taxation approach involves taxing the various parts of a
multinational company based on what it is doing in the real world.
Unitary taxation originated in the United States over a century ago, as a response to the difficulties
that U.S. states were having in taxing railroads. How would these multi-jurisdictional corporate
entities be taxed by each state? Gross receipts within the state? Assets? How should they tax the
railroads rolling stock? In the state of incorporation, or in the states in which it was used?
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that taxing rights between states should be apportioned fairly. Now
over 20 states inside the United States, notably California, have set up a system where they treat a
corporate group as a unit, then the corporate groups income is apportioned out to the different
states according to an agreed formula. Then each state can apply its own state income tax rate to
whatever portion of the overall units income was apportioned to it. Such a formula allocates profits
to a jurisdiction based upon real factors such as total third-party sales; total employment (either
calculated by headcount or by salaries) and the value of physical assets actually located in each
territory where the multinational operates. States can still set whatever local tax rates they want. In
what may be a sign of the systems usefulness, more states have been adopting it of late: Michigan
and Massachusetts (2008), New York and West Virginia (2007), Texas (2006) and Vermont (2004.)
Imagine a company with a one-man booking office in the Cayman Islands, with no local sales. Under
current arms length rules, it can shift billions of dollars of profits into this office, and use this to cut
its tax bill sharply. Under Unitary Taxation (formulary apportionment) however, the formula based on
sales and payroll would allocate only a miniscule portion of the income under the formula to
Cayman, so only a miniscule portion would be subected to Caymans zero tax rate.
The countries where real economic activity is happening Africa and the United States, in the
above example, would then be able to tax the income that is rightfully theirs to tax.
There are technical and political complexities involved in designing such an apportionment formula,
but with political will they are quite surmountable. Limited forms of unitary taxation have been shown
to work well in practice, as the experience of U.S. states shows.
The aim of unitary taxation, then, is to tax portions of a multinational companys income without
reference to how that enterprise is organised internally. In addition, multinational enterprises with the
same total income generally are treated the same under this method.
Multinational companies would have far less need to set themselves up as highly complex, tax-
driven multi-jurisdictional structures, and would simplify their corporate structures, creating major
efficiencies. Billions could be saved on tax enforcement. The big losers, apart from multinationals,
would be accountancy and legal firms, and economic consultants, who derive substantial income
from setting up and servicing complex tax-driven corporate structures.
Developing countries should have a particular interest in this approach.
There are three main obstacles to unitary taxation:
1. Path dependency. The arms length approach is how the international tax system has
emerged, and there will be great institutional resistance to change established practices. Still, the
alternative of unitary taxation is not an all-or-nothing approach requiring everyone to adopt it at once.
It could be adopted by some states and not others, or hybrid versions between Unitary Taxation and
the Arms Length approach could be adopted as interim steps.
2. Vested interests. Because multinational corporations like having the leeway to manipulate
transfer pricing, they have a strong interest in maintaining the status quo.
3. Technical issues. There are potentially important technical complexities in designing an
appropriate formula, and more work needs to be done in this area.

Unitary taxation is compatible in theory with country-by-country reporting, a concept developed by

TJNs senior adviser Richard Murphy. More precisely, Country by Country reporting could serve as
the accounting basis for formulary apportionment and unitary taxation.
Current accounting standards require corporations to publish certain financial and other data, but
they allow them to sweep up all the results from a range of different jurisdictions and put them into a
single, aggregate figure, perhaps under a heading International or some such. It is not possible to
unpick multinational corporations financial statements, to determine what is happening in each
country of operation.
Country-by-country reporting would require each multinational corporation to provide the following
information:
(1) The name of each country in which it operates.
(2) The names of all its subsidiaries and affiliates in each country in which it operates.
(3) The performance of each subsidiary and affiliate in every country in which it operates, without
exception.
(4) The tax charge included in its accounts of each subsidiary and affiliate in each country in which
it operates.
(5) Details of the cost and net book value of its fixed assets located in each country in which it
operates.
(6) Details of its gross and net assets for each country in which it operates.
Country- by country reporting would also disclose if there was deliberate material mispricing of
goods or services across international borders. Criteria could be adapted to fit a formula under
unitary taxation.
Even without unitary taxation, Country by country reporting would be extremely valuable in order to
try to determine whether arms length principles are being complied with.
The June 2009 publication Country by Country Reporting, Holding Multinational
Corporations to Account Wherever They Are, written by Richard Murphy for The Task Force on
Financial Integrity and Economic Development, explores the importance of this topic, including for
formulary apportionment. See the TJN summary, entitled Confronting Transfer Mispricing by
the Use of Country by Country Reporting, here and the full report Task Force report here.
More material on country by country reporting is available on the TJN A-Z Archive.
Chapter Contents:
- Definition and Overview
- Transfer Pricing Options
- Market-based Transfer Prices
- Cost-based Transfer Prices
- Negotiated Transfer Prices
- Survey of Practice
- External Reporting
- Dual Transfer Pricing
- Transfer Pricing and Multinational Income Taxes
- Other Regulatory Issues

Definition and Overview:

A transfer price is what one part of a company charges another part of the same
company for goods or services. In the excerpt from Casablanca, Rick apparently
loaned Ferrari 100 cartons of cigarettes for which he was never repaid. Now that
Ferrari owns both the Blue Parrot and Ricks Caf, he jokes about the fact that what
was previously a debt that he owed to Rick, is now a debt from one nightclub that
he owns to another nightclub that he owns. If Ferrari continues to transfer cartons of
cigarettes between the two clubs, he might wish to establish a transfer price for
cigarettes, but knowing Ferrari, he wont bother.

We will restrict attention to transfers that involve a tangible product, and we will refer
to the two corporate entities engaged in the transfer as divisions. Hence, the transfer
price is the price that the selling division charges the buying division for the
product. Because objects that float usually flow downstream, the selling division is
called the upstream division and the buying division is called thedownstream
division.

Transferred product can be classified along two criteria. The first criterion is whether
there is a readily-available external market price for the product. The second criterion
is whether the downstream division will sell the product as is, or whether the
transferred product becomes an input in the downstream divisions own production
process. When the transferred product becomes an input in the downstream divisions
production process, it is referred to as an intermediate product. The following table
provides examples.
 An external market No external market
price is available price is available
The West Coast Division of a A pharmaceutical company transfers
The downstream division will sell as is: supermarket chain transfers oranges to that is under patent protection, from
the Northwest Division, for retail sale. manufacturing division to its market
division.
An oil company transfers crude oil from The Parts Division of an appliance
ownstream division will use the transferred the drilling division to the refinery, to be manufacturer transfers mechanical
product in its own production process: used in the production of gasoline. components to one of its assembly d

Transfer pricing serves the following purposes.

1. When product is transferred between profit centers or investment centers

within a decentralized firm, transfer prices are necessary to calculate divisional
profits, which then affect divisional performance evaluation.

2. When divisional managers have the authority to decide whether to buy or sell
internally or on the external market, the transfer price can determine whether
managers incentives align with the incentives of the overall company and its
owners. The objective is to achieve goal congruence, in which divisional
managers will want to transfer product when doing so maximizes consolidated
corporate profits, and at least one manager will refuse the transfer when
transferring product is not the profit-maximizing strategy for the company.

3. When multinational firms transfer product across international borders, transfer

prices are relevant in the calculation of income taxes, and are sometimes
relevant in connection with other international trade and regulatory issues.

The transfer generates journal entries on the books of both divisions, but usually no
money changes hands. The transfer price becomes an expense for the downstream
division and revenue for the upstream division. Following is a representative example
of journal entries to record the transfer of product:

Upstream Division:
(1) Intercompany Accounts Receivable $9,000
Revenue from Intercompany Sale $9,000

(2) Cost of Goods Sold Intercompany Sales $8,000

Finished Goods Inventory $8,000
 (To record the transfer of 500 cases of Clear Mountain Spring
Water, at $18 per case, to the Florida marketing division, and to
remove the 500 cases from finished goods inventory at the
production cost of $16 per case.)

Downstream Division:
(1) Finished Goods Inventory $9,000
Intercompany Accounts Payable $9,000

(To record the receipt of 500 cases of Clear Mountain Spring

Water, at $18 per case, from the bottling division in Nebraska)

Transfer Pricing Options:

There are three general methods for establishing transfer prices.

1. Market-based transfer price: In the presence of competitive and stable external markets
for the transferred product, many firms use the external market price as the transfer price.

2. Cost-based transfer price: The transfer price is based on the production cost of the
upstream division. A cost-based transfer price requires that the following criteria be
specified:
a. Actual cost or budgeted (standard) cost.
b. Full cost or variable cost.
c. The amount of markup, if any, to allow the upstream division to earn a profit on
the transferred product.

3. Negotiated transfer price: Senior management does not specify the transfer price.
Rather, divisional managers negotiate a mutually-agreeable price.

Each of these three transfer pricing methods has advantages and disadvantages.

Market-based Transfer Prices:

Microeconomic theory shows that when divisional managers strive to maximize
divisional profits, a market-based transfer price aligns their incentives with owners
incentives of maximizing overall corporate profits. The transfer will occur when it is
in the best interests of shareholders, and the transfer will be refused by at least one
divisional manager when shareholders would prefer for the transfer not to occur. The
upstream division is generally indifferent between receiving the market price from an
external customer and receiving the same price from an internal customer.
Consequently, the determining factor is whether the downstream division is willing to
pay the market price. If the downstream division is willing to do so, the implication is
that the downstream division can generate incremental profits for the company by
purchasing the product from the upstream division and either reselling it or using the
product in its own production process. On the other hand, if the downstream division
is unwilling to pay the market price, the implication is that corporate profits are
maximized when the upstream division sells the product on the external market, even
if this leaves the downstream division idle. Sometimes, there are cost savings on
internal transfers compared with external sales. These savings might arise, for
example, because the upstream division can avoid a customer credit check and
collection efforts, and the downstream division might avoid inspection procedures in
the receiving department. Market-based transfer pricing continues to align managerial
incentives with corporate goals, even in the presence of these cost savings, if
appropriate adjustments are made to the transfer price (i.e., the market-based transfer
price should be reduced by these cost savings).

However, many intermediate products do not have readily-available market prices.

Examples are shown in the table above: a pharmaceutical company with a drug under
patent protection (an effective monopoly); and an appliance company that makes
component parts in the Parts Division and transfers those parts to its assembly
divisions. Obviously, if there is no market price, a market-based transfer price cannot
be used.

A disadvantage of a market-based transfer price is that the prices for some

commodities can fluctuate widely and quickly. Companies sometimes attempt to
protect divisional managers from these large unpredictable price changes.

Cost-based Transfer Prices:

Cost-based transfer prices can also align managerial incentives with corporate goals, if
various factors are properly considered, including the outside market opportunities for
both divisions, and possible capacity constraints of the upstream division.

First consider the case in which the upstream division sells the intermediate product to
external customers as well as to the downstream division. In this situation, capacity
constraints are crucial. If the upstream division has excess capacity, a cost-based
transfer price using the variable cost of production will align incentives, because the
upstream division is indifferent about the transfer, and the downstream division will
fully incorporate the companys incremental cost of making the intermediate product
in its production and marketing decisions. However, senior management might want
to allow the upstream division to mark up the transfer price a little above variable
cost, to provide that division positive incentives to engage in the transfer.

If the upstream division has a capacity constraint, transfers to the downstream division
displace external sales. In this case, in order to align incentives, the opportunity cost
of these lost sales must be passed on to the downstream division, which is
accomplished by setting the transfer price equal to the upstream divisions external
market sales price.

Next consider the case in which there is no external market for the upstream division.
If the upstream division is to be treated as a profit center, it must be allowed the
opportunity to recover its full cost of production plus a reasonable profit. If the
downstream division is charged the full cost of production, incentives are aligned
because the downstream division will refuse the transfer under only two
circumstances:

- First, if the downstream division can source the intermediate product for a
lower cost elsewhere;

- Second, if the downstream division cannot generate a reasonable profit on the

sale of the final product when it pays the upstream divisions full cost of
production for the intermediate product.

If the downstream division can source the intermediate product for a lower cost
elsewhere, to the extent the upstream divisions full cost of production reflects its
future long-run average cost, the company should consider eliminating the upstream
division. If the downstream division cannot generate a reasonable profit on the sale of
the final product when it pays the upstream divisions full cost of production for the
intermediate product, the optimal corporate decision might be to close the upstream
division and stop production and sale of the final product. However, if either the
upstream division or the downstream division manufactures and markets multiple
products, the analysis becomes more complex. Also, if the downstream division can
source the intermediate product from an external supplier for a price greater than the
upstream divisions full cost, but less than full cost plus a reasonable profit margin for
the upstream division, suboptimal decisions could result.

Negotiated Transfer Prices:

Negotiated transfer pricing has the advantage of emulating a free market in which
divisional managers buy and sell from each other in a manner that simulates arms-
length transactions. However, there is no reason to assume that the outcome of these
transfer price negotiations will serve the best interests of the company or shareholders.
The transfer price could depend on which divisional manager is the better poker
player, rather than whether the transfer results in profit-maximizing production and
sourcing decisions. Also, if divisional managers fail to reach an agreement on price,
even though the transfer is in the best interests of the company, senior management
might decide to impose a transfer price. However, senior managements imposition of
a transfer price defeats the motivation for using a negotiated transfer price in the first
place.

Survey of Practice:
Roger Tang (Management Accounting, February 1992) reports 1990 survey data on
transfer pricing practices obtained from approximately 150 industrial companies in
the Fortune 500. Most of these companies operate foreign subsidiaries and also use
transfer pricing for domestic interdivisional transfers. For domestic transfers,
approximately 46% of these companies use cost-based transfer pricing, 37% use
market-based transfer pricing, and 17% use negotiated transfer pricing. For
international transfers, approximately 46% use market-based transfer pricing, 41% use
cost-based transfer pricing, and 13% use negotiated transfer pricing. Hence, market-
based transfer pricing is more common for international transfers than for domestic
transfers. Also, comparison to an earlier survey indicates that market-based transfer
pricing is slightly more common in 1990 than it was in 1977.

Tang also finds that among companies that use cost-based transfer pricing for
domestic and/or international transfers, approximately 90% use some measure of full
cost, and only about 5% or 10% use some measure of variable cost.

External Reporting:
For external reporting under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, no matter
what transfer price is used for calculating divisional profits, the effect should be
reversed and intercompany profits eliminated when the financial results of the
divisions are consolidated. Obviously, intercompany transfers are not arms-length
transactions, and a company cannot generate profits or increase the reported cost of its
inventory by transferring product from one division to another.

Dual Transfer Pricing:

Under a dual transfer pricing scheme, the selling price received by the upstream
division differs from the purchase price paid by the downstream division. Usually, the
motivation for using dual transfer pricing is to allow the selling price to exceed the
purchase price, resulting in a corporate-level subsidy that encourages the divisions to
participate in the transfer. Although dual transfer pricing is rare in practice, a thorough
understanding of dual transfer pricing illustrates some of the key bookkeeping and
financial reporting implications of all transfer pricing schemes.

In the following example, the Clear Mountain Spring Water Company changes from a
negotiated transfer price of $18 per case (see the above example) to a dual transfer
price in which the upstream division receives the local market price of $19 per case,
and the downstream division pays $17 per case.

Upstream Division:
(1) Intercompany Receivable/Payable $9,500
Revenue from Intercompany Sale $9,500

(2) Cost of Goods Sold Intercompany Sales $8,000

Finished Goods Inventory $8,000

(To record the transfer of 500 cases of Clear Mountain Spring

Water, at $19 per case, to the Florida marketing division, and to
remove the 500 cases from finished goods inventory at the
production cost of $16 per case.)

Downstream Division:
(1) Finished Goods Inventory $8,500
Intercompany Receivable/Payable $8,500

(To record the receipt of 500 cases of Clear Mountain Spring

Water at $17 per case, from the bottling division in Nebraska)

Corporate Headquarters:
(1) Interco. Receivable/Payable Florida $8,500
Corporate Subsidy for Dual Transfer Price $1,000
Interco. Receivable/Payable Nebraska $9,500

(To record the transfer of 500 cases of Clear Mountain Spring

Water from Nebraska to Florida, at a dual transfer price of
$19/$17 per case.)

Corporate Subsidy for Dual Transfer Price is an expense account at the corporate
level. This account and the revenue account that records the intercompany sale affect
the calculation of divisional profits for internal reporting and performance evaluation,
but these accountsas well as the intercompany receivable/payable accountsare
eliminated upon consolidation for external financial reporting. To the extent that the
Florida Division has ending inventory, the cost of that inventory for external financial
reporting will be the companys cost of production of $16 per case. In other words, the
transfer price has no effect on the cost of finished goods inventory.

Transfer Pricing and Multinational Income Taxes:

When divisions transfer product across tax jurisdictions, transfer prices play a role in
the calculation of the companys income tax liability. In this situation, the companys
transfer pricing policy can become a tax planning tool. The United States has
agreements with most other nations that determine how multinational companies are
taxed. These agreements, called bilateral tax treaties, establish rules for apportioning
multinational corporate income among the nations in which the companies conduct
business. These rules attempt to tax all multinational corporate income once and only
once (excluding the double-taxation that occurs at the Federal and state levels). In
other words, the tax treaties attempt to avoid the double-taxation that would occur if
two nations taxed the same income. Since transfer prices represent revenue to the
upstream division and an expense to the downstream division, the transfer price
affects the calculation of divisional profits that represent taxable income in the nations
where the divisions are based.

For example, if a U.S.-based pharmaceutical company manufactures a drug in a

factory that it operates in Ireland and transfers the drug to the U.S. for sale, a high
transfer price increases divisional income to the Irish division of the company, and
hence, increases the companys tax liability in Ireland. At the same time, the high
transfer price increases the cost of product to the U.S. marketing division,
lowers U.S.income, and lowers U.S. taxes. The companys incentives with regard to
the transfer price depend on whether the marginal tax rate is higher in the U.S. or
in Ireland. If the marginal tax rate is higher in theU.S., the company prefers a high
transfer price, whereas if the marginal tax rate is higher in Ireland, the company
prefers a low transfer price. The situation reverses if the drug is manufactured in
the U.S. and sold in Ireland. The general rule is that the company wants to shift
income from the high tax jurisdiction to the low tax jurisdiction.

There are limits to the extent to which companies can shift income in this manner.
When a market price is available for the goods transferred, the taxing authorities will
usually impose the market-based transfer price. When a market-based transfer price is
not feasible, U.S. tax law specifies detailed and complicated rules that limit the extent
to which companies can shift income out of the United States.
Other Regulatory Issues:
Transfer pricing sometimes becomes relevant in the context of other regulatory issues,
including international trade disputes. For example, when tariffs are based on the
value of goods imported, the transfer price of goods shipped from a manufacturing
division in one country to a marketing division in another country can form the basis
for the tariff. As another example, in order to increase investment in their economies,
developing nations sometimes restrict the extent to which multinational companies
can repatriate profits. However, when product is transferred from manufacturing
divisions located elsewhere into the developing nation for sale, the local marketing
division can export funds to pay for the merchandise received. As a final example,
when nations accuse foreign companies of dumping product onto their markets,
transfer pricing is often involved. Dumping refers to selling product below cost, and it
generally violates international trade laws. Foreign companies frequently transfer
product from manufacturing divisions in their home countries to marketing affiliates
elsewhere, so that the determination of whether the company has dumped product
depends on comparing the transfer price charged to the marketing affiliate with the
upstream divisions cost of production.