“In transfer pricing you’re working for more than one country, gaining expertise in a variety of areas. This is, in a way, like diversifying your financial portfolio.”

- Mark Camp ’85

By Ashley N. Coker

When a recent graduate walks through the doors of an accounting firm, the dream of sitting in the corner office with a view is likely spinning round their mind like a top. For Ian Speir, a new graduate seminar in international transfer pricing being taught by Professor of Management Lorraine Eden has made him a shoo-in for that corner office—and helped earn him a seat in the Georgetown University Law School.

Speir, a master’s student in international affairs, first tasted transfer pricing this past summer on an internship at the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ International Price Program in Washington, D.C. When he graduates in May, Speir is headed back to D.C. to begin law school part-time at Georgetown, with plans to launch a full-time career in this area.

“Transfer pricing is a small subset of international tax, and that’s what drove me to go to law school,” Speir said. “From an economist’s perspective like Dr. Eden’s, I’ll be better informed for understanding law.”

For students who don’t plan to pursue their education further than a master’s degree, a background in transfer pricing can only help give a career boost, Eden says. Eden, an international business expert and incoming editor of the Journal of International Business Studies, has witnessed a near-100 percent job placement rate for graduates who have taken her multinational enterprises course, which historically has included a unit on transfer pricing. That same class helped place Speir in his internship and at Georgetown.

Diversifying student portfolios
Transfer pricing policies and operations are of high importance for multinational firms, whose profits can be affected by the pricing of goods and services within their multi-divisional organization and across borders.

The goal of Eden’s course is to teach students the principles of pricing within multinational firms, and the philosophy behind computer programs and detailed regulations currently used to determine transfer prices. Firms today are seeking knowledgeable workers who not only operate the software, but also know how and why each price is produced.

The course is a perfect fit for those who love solving puzzles and using logic, Eden said. Being able to argue your side and have your company’s desired price be recognized is also a large part of international transfer pricing. This is why law firms need people like Speir to join their team.

For Ernst & Young’s growing transfer pricing unit, graduates who already have a background in transfer pricing when they walk through the door are priceless—because the company doesn’t have to spend as much money training them.

Mark Camp ’85, executive director and co-leader of E&Y’s southwest transfer pricing group, was the second person to join the company’s transfer pricing sector in 1997. There’s been an explosion in international trade and 15 more pricing employees added since then, he said. Intra-company transactions account for about 50 percent of international trade, so transfer pricing units like the one at E&Y are needed to establish pricing boundaries for companies. E&Y now has transfer pricing in 40 countries, with offices everywhere from Budapest and Sydney to Shanghai and Vancouver—a perk of transfer pricing work being the ability to work abroad or stay in a U.S. office.

Since his talk with Eden’s class, Camp has returned to Mays—this time bringing two E&Y managers with him to conduct interviews with Professor Eden’s transfer pricing course students. Camp hopes to find new hires for summer internships and fulltime employment with E&Y.