When colleagues or clients scan my LinkedIn or read my bio, they inevitably have questions. Did you actually provide transformational leadership and drive outsized financial return running as a three-year old lemonade peddler? Is “hitchhiker’s thumb” really a professional skill? Why didn’t you just use AI? All valid, but by far the most common is “how did a history degree lead to a career in transfer pricing?”
Tempting as it is to shrug off the question by muttering about lacking sufficient quantities of tweed jackets and sweater vests to become a professor, I’ve met enough fellow historians in my field to become curious myself. How does an academic focus on obscure chronologies and engaging in shouting matches over the impact of Genghis Khan’s succession planning on the development of Central Asian societal structures translate to scrutinizing the arm’s-length nature of intra-group dealings?
As it turns out, there are some compelling use cases for a history background in the transfer pricing profession. I'm working on a full dissertation, but will provide a brief synopsis in the meantime:
- Tax and trade conflicts drive history every bit as much as mad monarchs and territorial conquests do. Knowing that the famous Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta was deeply rooted in the allocation of taxation rights is useful context in understanding present transfer pricing disputes, in which modern governments engage in struggles for their piece of the tax pie worthy of a scene in "300." (Shirts on, please.)
- Like historical research, transfer pricing involves crafting compelling and factually-based arguments with imperfect information. Anyone who has written a TP functional analysis or an audit response must be able to work with what's available to present a reasonable and convincing argument, while anticipating counterpoints and alternative interpretations.
- Knowing the past prepares for the future. A company's origin and heritage is essential to identifying value drivers and IP ownership, in much the same way researching an ancient civilizations informs the values and customs of present-day societies. Similarly, many tax systems evolved as the direct result of imperial expansion and other geopolitical pressures. The tensions that result are on full display at recent multilateral tax negotiations at the UN and OECD.
- Hands down the most critical skill in an international profession is the ability to understand and translate time zones for cross-continental meetings. Here's a thank you to Mr. Dixon for forcing me to learn global geography by longitude and time zone in the 10th grade. I wouldn't be here without you.
And with that, Eide Bailly wishes you a joyous US daylight savings time. Spring forward!
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