'Transfer Price'
The price at which divisions of a company transact with each other. Transactions may include the trade of supplies or labor between departments. Transfer prices are used when individual entities of a larger multi-entity firm are treated and measured as separately run entities.
In managerial accounting, when different divisions of a multi-entity company are in charge of their own profits, they are also responsible for their own "Return on Invested Capital". Therefore, when divisions are required to transact with each other, a transfer price is used to determine costs. Transfer prices tend not to differ much from the price in the market because one of the entities in such a transaction will lose out: they will either be buying for more than the prevailing market price or selling below the market price, and this will affect their performance.
