The determinant of transfer pricing in Indonesian multinational companies: Moderation effect of tax expenses

This research aims to apply the value-added intellectual coefficient (VAIC) model to test the impact of intellectual capital (IC) on market value of the Jordanian industrial firms. The research increases the awareness of the need for firms of all sizes to communicate and value their business beyond capturing numbers alone. The sample for this study is 73 Jordanian manufacturing shareholders companies during the period 2005–2017. The sample employed consists of 648 firm-year observations. Market value is measured using the market capitalization over the total assets. Valuation approaches are a challenging area created to enable the stakeholders, or outside parties, to put an economic value on a firm.
The IC and its components: capital employed (CEE), structural capital (SCE), and human capital (HCE) of industrial firms have been analyzed, and their impact on market value has been estimated using regression models. The results show that there is no relationship between IC and the market value; HCE is associated with the market value, and SCE and CEE are not associated with the market value. This could be explained by the increase in employees’ training, as a regular training program is an essential factor in managers’ and employees’ performance. Practically, investors have a positive view of a firm that has higher employee expenditure than its investment in physical capital. Future research should be made on the empirical analysis of other sectors to determine whether different results and explanations can be obtained.

The subject of the scientific work is analysis of the essence of the “transfer pricing” concept. It has been proven that transfer pricing is an economic and legal tool used by business entities for their tax burden optimization.

It has been concluded that the concept “transfer price” means the price generated by multinational corporations in the process of commercial activity between the affiliated companies located in different countries and, correspondingly, different tax jurisdictions. In essence, transfer pricing means intra-company pricing of goods transferred between the enterprise subdivisions located in different countries. Base erosion by means of transfer pricing can be performed not only based on the price manipulating by the affiliated companies, but also as a result of manipulating incomes and expenditures. The latter is accompanied by the financial resource withdrawal outside the national economy and its concentration in the low taxation jurisdictions.

Transfer pricing bears serious risks both for an individual country and for the world economy. Contractual freedom of transnational corporations and industrial and financial groups cannot be unlimited regardless of the principle of freedom of contracts in the private law relations. Economic activity of such business entities must subject to a strict control on the part of the country. In the process of transfer pricing tax control, the controlling state agencies are intended to prevent the decrease of tax liabilities by shifting the income to low tax jurisdictions by taxpayers.

Intangible assets play an important role in increasing the value of companies. The performance of companies increasingly depends on ideas, information, and professional services rather than tangible assets. The question of how to accurately measure intangible assets remains a challenge for many scientists. This study aims to measure intangible assets of 396 companies listed on Vietnam’s stock market between 2010 and 2014 using the panel data technique by Yamayuchi (2014). The estimation shows that intangible assets make up a large share of total assets of companies. In addition, construction, steel, building materials, mining, and food are sectors with high intangible assets in Vietnam. The study also finds a positive impact of intangible assets on improving company performance. The findings demonstrate the importance of investing in intangible assets, such as R&D, technology, advertising, and human resources, to increase the value of a company in the future.