Module 43b: Capital Budgeting

Question 1

Capital budgeting

Answer 1

is a technique to evaluate and control long-term investments

there are 6 stages:

1. identification stage
2. search stage
3. information-acquisition stage
4. selection stage
5. financing stage
6. implementation and control stage

Question 2

identification stage of capital budgeting

Answer 2

management determines the type of capital projects that are necessary to achieve managements objectives and strategies

Question 3

search stage of capital budgeting

Answer 3

management attempts to identify alternative capital investments that will achieve managements objectives (which project?)

Question 4

information-acquisition stage of capital budgeting

Answer 4

management attempts to revaluate the various investments in terms of their costs and benefits

Question 5

selection stage of capital budgeting

Answer 5

management chooses the projects that best meet the criteria established

Question 6

financing stage of capital budgeting

Answer 6

management decides on the best source of funding for the project

Question 7

implementation and control stage of capital budgeting

Answer 7

management undertakes the project and monitors the performance of the investment

Question 8

capital budgeting alternatives are usually evaluated using

Answer 8

discounted cash flow techniques:
1. PV of future cash returns from the investment

the objective is to identify the most profitable or best investment alternative

Question 9

cash returns of capital project alternatives come in two forms

Answer 9

1. return can be revenue
2. return can be cost savings (e.g. cash outflows for labor are not made anymore because a new machine is more efficient)

conceptually the results of both types of projects are the same

the entity ends up with more cash by making the initial capital investment

Question 10

sunk, past, or unavoidable costs

Answer 10

are committed costs that are not avoidable and are therefore irrelevant to the decision process

Question 11

avoidable costs

Answer 11

are costs that will continue to be incurred if a department or product is terminated

Question 12

committed costs

Answer 12

arise from a company’s basic commitment to open its doors and engage in business (depreciation, property taxes, management salaries)

Question 13

discretionary costs

Answer 13

are fixed costs whose level is set by current management decisions (advertising, research and development)

Question 14

relevant costs

Answer 14

are the future costs that will change as a result of a specific decision

Question 15

differential (incremental) costs

Answer 15

is the difference in cost between two alternatives

Question 16

opportunity cost

Answer 16

is the maximum income or savings (benefit) foregone by rejecting an alternative

Question 17

outlay (out-of-pocket) cost

Answer 17

is the cash disbursement associated with a specific project

Question 18

**the choice among alternative investing decisions can be made on the basis of several capital budgeting models:

Answer 18

1. payback or discontinued payback
2. accounting rate of return
3. net present value
4. excess present value index
5. internal (time-adjusted) rate of return

Question 19

the payback method

Answer 19

evaluates investments on the length of time until recoup (return) of the investment

= investment/ annual cash inflow

annual cash inflow= subtract out depreciation, taxes to give you the net income after taxes. NIAT is calculated on an accrual basis, so you add depreciation back in to get annual cash inflow on a cash basis

Question 20

payback method advantages and disadvantages

Answer 20

advantages: defacto measurement of risk because the sooner you pay back the investment, the less risky it is
its easy and intuitive

disadvantages: does not involve the time value of money; has little connection to maximization or shareholder value; completely ignores everything after the point for which you pay the investment off (example: an investment that takes 3 years to pay off and gives you cash flows for 6 years is NOT better than an investment that takes you 5 years to pay off but gives you cash flows for 20 years)

Question 21

discounted payback method

Answer 21

essentially the same method as the payback method except that in calculating the payback period, cash flows are first discounted to their present value

this is only a minor improvement over the conventional payback method

it STILL ignores any cash flows after the cutoff period and therefore does not consider total project profitability

Question 22

Accounting rate of return (ARR) method

Answer 22

computes an approximate rate of return which ignores the time value of money

=Annual net income /
average (or initial) investment

looked at as a micro level (on one project) compared to the rate of return, which looks at like a whole division or the entire company

Question 23

Accounting rate or return method advantages and disadvantages

Answer 23

advantages: it is simple and intuitive because net income and investment are meansures used throughout business; it is also the measure often used to evaluate management ; the technique corresponds to the measure that is often used to evaluate performance

disadvantages:
1. the results are affected by the depreciation method (and every decision you make on the accrual basis of accounting affects the results)
2. ARR makes no adjustment for project risk
3. ARR makes no adjustment for the time value of money

Question 24

net present value method

Answer 24

is a discounted cash flow method which calculates the present value of the future cash flows of a project and compares this with the investment outlay required to implement the project

=PV of future cash flows
- required investment

Question 25

excess present value (profitability) index

Answer 25

computes the ratio of the present value of the cash inflows to the initial cost of the project it is used to implement the net present value method when there is a limit on funds available for capital investments assuming other factors are equal, this is accomplished by allocating funds to those projects with the highest excess present value indexes use the minimum required rate of return = (present value of future net cash inflows (benefits) / initial investment) x 100 if the index is equal to or greater than 100%, the project will generate a return equal to or greater than the required rate of return

Question 26

net present value method advanages

Answer 26

the most widely accepted methods of evaluating a captial expenditure because: 1. presents results in dollars which are easily understood 2. adjusts for the time value of money 3. considers the total profitability of the project 4. provides a straightforward method of controlling the risk of competing projects- higher risk cash flows (projects) can be discounted at a higher interest rate (you can completely control risk with how you choose the discount rate) 5. provides a direct estimate of the change in shareholder wealth resulting from undertaking a project (the higher the NPV, the higher the wealth that goes to shareholder)

Question 27

net present value method limitations

Answer 27

1. may not be considered as simple or intuitive as some other methods 2. does not take into account the management flexibility with respect to a project- management may be able to adjust the amount invested after the first year or two depending on the actual returns

Question 28

an annuity*

Answer 28

MUST BE EQUAL PAYMENTS!!! it a question gives you present value information for an annuity but the payments arent equal, you have to derive the present value table of $1 from the annuity values. remember: the difference between each annuity is the next period in a regular present value table example: multiple choice 45 page 225

Question 29

Internal rate of return (IRR) method

Answer 29

is another discounted cash flow method it determines the rate of discount at which the present value of the future cash flows will excactly equal the investment outlay (i.e. a rate that results in a NPV of zero) calculated by setting the investment today equal to the discounted value of future cash flows the discounting factor (rate of return) is the unknown

Question 30

relationship between NPV and IRR direct relationship

Answer 30

NPV > 0 IRR > discount rate (req. rt of return) NPV = 0 IRR = Discount rate NPV < 0 IRR < Discount rate

Question 31

hurdle rate

Answer 31

the firms minimum acceptable rate of return for the project if the firm has sufficient funds to undertake all projects, the calculated internal rate of return on a project is compared to a prespecified hurdle rate the hurdle rate is determined based on the market rate of return for projects with similar levels of risk

Question 32

IRR advantages

Answer 32

1. adjusts for the time value of money 2. the hurdle rate is based on market interest rates for similar investments 3. the results tend to be a little more intuitive than the results of the net present value method

Question 33

IRR disadvantages

Answer 33

1. depending on the cash flow pattern there may be no unique internal rate of return for a particular project- there may be multiple returns depending on the assumptions used 2. occasionally, there may be no real discount rate that equals the project's NPV to zero 3. the technique also has limitations even when evaluating mutually exclusive investments (next)

Question 34

mutually exclusive projects

Answer 34

until now, we have assumed that management can invest in any project that meets the particular criteria being used however, at times management must decide on one of several projects that are all acceptable (or the best project)

Question 35

capital rationing

Answer 35

choosing the best project out of several projects that are all acceptable this is typically the one that has the largest NPV

Question 36

net present value profile

Answer 36

to decide on the best investment, management must examine the characteristics of each one way of summarizing the characteristics is through the use of the NPV profile the profile allows us to portray the net present value of projects at different discount rates

Question 37

cash flows at the end of the expected life of the project

Answer 37

1. terminal disposal price of any long term tangible or intangible assets. if the tax basis (initial cost- tax depreciation taken) is expected to be different from the disposal price, the tax gain or loss will generate a tax inflow or outflow 2. recovery of any working capital investment- this investment will be recovered at the end of the project by liquidation of inventories, accounts receivable, etc. there are generally no tax implications of this recovery because it is assumed that the cash received will be equal to the book value (tax basis) of the working capital

Question 38

considering risk in capital budgeting

Answer 38

risk as applied to capital budgeting is defined in terms of variability of the possible outcomes from a given invesment projected cash flows are NOT KNOWN with certainty

Question 39

probability analysis

Answer 39

one way to include risk in the capital budgeting analysis is to assign probabilities to possible outcomes all you need to know is that all probabilities have to add up to 100%

Question 40

generally the larger the standard deviation...

Answer 40

the greater the risk

Question 41

to eliminate the size difficulty analysts have developed a performance measure (coefficient of variation)

Answer 41

which is simply the standard deviation divided by the expected value of the investment (relative risk)

Question 42

risk adjusted discounted rate

Answer 42

different interest rates to calculate different cash flows a popular approach to adjust for risk involves using different discount rates for proposals with different levels of risk using this technique, management is applying risk-adjusted discount rates

Question 43

time adjusted discount rates

Answer 43

the farther you go into the future, the higher interest rate you use to calculate cash flows

Question 44

lease versus buy

Answer 44

in capital budgeting, it is important to evaluate whether it may be more advantageous to lease the asset rather than purchase it in making a lease versus buy decision, management will often compare the two alternatives using discounted cash flow depending on the circumstances, leasing may provide an attractive alternative for a number of reasons

Question 45

leasing advantages

Answer 45

1. there may be tax advantages to structuring the acquisition as a lease 2. leasing may require less initial investment 3. leasing will require less formal borrowing which may be restricted by loan covenant tied to the companys other debt 4. certain leases do not have to be capitalized and therefore will not rewuire recognition of debt on the companies balance sheet

Question 46

portfolio risk

Answer 46

theoretically, management should evaluate all possible combinations of investment projects to determine which set will provide the best trade-off between risk and return this process is very similar to an investor's process of putting together a portfolio of financial investments

Question 47

risk preference function

Answer 47

conceptually, the sets of portfolios that meet management's trade-off between risk and return can be visualized as falling on an indifference curve or RISK PREFERENCE FUNCTION a risk preference function illustrates the efficient frontier for portfolio investments any risk that falls on the line is an efficient portfolio; it means managements objectives with respect to the trade-off between risk and return any portfolio that falls to the right is not efficient graph on page 218

Question 48

coefficient of correlation

Answer 48

a measure that is used to express the extent of correlation between a set of investments this measure takes a value from +1 to -1 sign. risk some risk little risk reduction reduction reduction -1 -0.5 0 +0.5 +1