Capital Budgeting: Estimating Cash Flows

2022 ◽  
pp. 313-343
Keyword(s):  
2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 71
Author(s):  
Robert J. Sweeney

Capital budgeting decisions generally involve the commitment of resources in the current period to secure positive cash flows over time that generate a rate of return in excess of the cost of the funds invested. The most common techniques used to perform this analysis are the Net Present Value (NPV) and the Internal Rate of Return (IRR).Conceptually, these two techniques are substitutable; i.e. the resulting decision from a NPV analysis is identical to the decision from an IRR analysis. In practice, however, the NPV and the IRR can, on occasion, produce conflicting decisions. Specifically, when analyzing mutually exclusive assets the Net Present Value can support one asset while the Internal Rate of Return supports the other. The purpose of this paper is twofold; first, to highlight structural deficiencies in the conventional application of the NPV and the IRR, and second, to demonstrate a procedure to correct for these structural errors.


1976 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 19-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
James W. Richardson ◽  
Harry P. Mapp

Managers of business firms, large or small, farm or nonfarm, must make investment decisions under conditions of risk and uncertainty. However, in evaluating investments, the assumption of perfect knowledge has often been used to simplify the analysis. For example, an estimate of average annual net returns is frequently discounted into perpetuity to evaluate a real estate investment alternative. Capital budgeting literature suggests a number of approaches to evaluating alternative investments. However, use of concepts such as the payback period, average rate of return, internal rate of return and net present value embodies the assumption of perfect knowledge.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-256
Author(s):  
Keyoor Purani ◽  
Krishnan Jeesha

In 2011, Samjad, deputy CEO of Maledia Broadcasting Limited (MBL)—a new venture of the media group Maledia, based in Cochin, India—prepared to make financial projections to justify the feasibility of the new Malayalam news channel. He was faced with challenges of making estimates that made the project attractive yet practical and credible for the group that was conservative in their advertising sales approach. Set in an interesting industry like broadcasting, the case simulates a real-life situation that also provides a internal corporate context. With the help of the rich market data such as advertising spends, commercial time, competitive scenario in the region, students are expected to forecast revenue for the project. Students are also challenged to use benchmark data of competitors to estimate hurdle rate, capex and operating costs. Estimation of initial investments is also required to be made. Using the processed financial data and projections, students are required to prepare discounted cash flows (DCF) statements with net present value (NPV) and internal rate of return (IRR) for the broadcast channel project. They learn to build alternate scenarios to deal with decisions under uncertainty. The case provides several opportunities to discuss narratives and numbers, helping students of finance realize the value of analysing the company policies and values, business situation, market environment and competitive financial information in capital budgeting, and project finance beyond number crunching.


1995 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-125
Author(s):  
Khursheed Omer ◽  
Andre de Korvin ◽  
Philip H. Siegel

2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 664-669 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Patrick ◽  
Nick French

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss the use of the internal rate of return (IRR) as a principal measure of performance of investments and to highlight some of the weaknesses of the IRR in evaluating investments in this way. Design/methodology/approach This Education Briefing is an overview of the limitations of the IRR in making capital budgeting decisions. It is illustrated with a number of counter-intuitive examples. Findings The advantage of the IRR is that it is, on the surface, a wonderfully simple benchmark. One figure that tells a story. But, the disadvantage is that if used in isolation the IRR can give misleading results when used to assess investment proposals. Practical implications The IRR should be used in conjunction with other analyses to appraise projects, so that the user can determine its veracity in the context of other benchmarks. This context is particularly important when assessing investments with unusual cash flows. Originality/value This is a review of existing models.


2009 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 415-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Pierre D. Chateau

Abstract The financial model presented in the article attempts to further integrate capital budgeting into the firm's overall financial planning policy. Although it is an extension and generalization of Bernhard and Weingartner's previous models, it differs from these works by some basic assumptions related to both the objective function and constraint set. First, the objective function stresses the growing role of managerial discretion as opposed to the common assumption of maximizing shareholders' wealth. In particular we assume that managers wish to maximize the size of the firm under their control at the end of some future time horizon. Since net cash flows of the investment projects selected are sources of future investment funds, the managers try to keep the shareholders' dividends to a minimum level, sufficient enough however to pacify them. Secondly, the model constraints embody the complete set of financial instruments available to the corporation managers: in a sense, this enlarges the previous models' short-term external financing facilities by considering simultaneously the alternative long-term external financial instruments, namely equity and bond issues. In the latter case, the refunding features are incorporated in the constraints. The constraints also imply that managers prefer steady growth of net cash flows through time. This contrasts with the usual maximization approach which has been shown to favor long-term investment projects with somewhat more erratic net cash flows. The derivation of the Kuhn and Tucker conditions for the model allows us to show the impact of the opportunity cost of the various instruments on that of the liquidity requirement and the investment projects selection criterion. Finally, the duality properties also highlight the reciprocal relationships existing between the various opportunity costs, both internal and external.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
James A. Turner

Many introductory finance texts present information on the capital budgeting process, including estimation of project cash flows.  Typically, estimation of project cash flows begins with a calculation of net income.  Getting from net income to cash flows requires accounting for non-cash items such as depreciation.  Also important is the effect of changes in net operating working capital on cash flow.  While students readily understand how to account for depreciation when calculating cash flow, they typically have much more difficulty understanding how and why changes in working capital affect cash flows.  This paper develops a teaching example to show exactly how and why changes in net operating working capital affect cash flows.  The example shows how to derive operating cash flows for a proposed project using the accrual accounting method and then shows a cash budget for the same project.  Finally, the example shows that the discrepancy between the cash flows shown in the cash budget and the operating cash flows can be resolved by accounting for changes in working capital.  A survey of students in an MBA managerial finance course indicates student satisfaction with the teaching example and gives evidence that students prefer the teaching example to explanations of the effect of working capital on project cash flows given in the assigned text.


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