Exam 10: The Basics of Capital Budgeting: Evaluating Cash Flows

A company is choosing between two projects. The larger project has an initial cost of $100,000, annual cash flows of $30,000 for 5 years, and an IRR of 15.24%. The smaller project has an initial cost of $50,000, annual cash flows of $16,000 for 5 years, and an IRR of 16.63%. The projects are equally risky. Which of the following statements is CORRECT?

Conflicts between two mutually exclusive projects occasionally occur, where the NPV method ranks one project higher but the IRR method ranks the other one first. In theory, such conflicts should be resolved in favor of the project with the higher positive NPV.

A firm is considering Projects S and L, whose cash flows are shown below. These projects are mutually exclusive, equally risky, and not repeatable. The CEO wants to use the IRR criterion, while the CFO favors the NPV method. You were hired to advise the firm on the best procedure. If the wrong decision criterion is used, how much potential value would the firm lose?

For a project with one initial cash outflow followed by a series of positive cash inflows, the modified IRR (MIRR) method involves compounding the cash inflows out to the end of the project's life, summing those compounded cash flows to form a terminal value (TV), and then finding the discount rate that causes the PV of the TV to equal the project's cost.

Tesar Chemicals is considering Projects S and L, whose cash flows are shown below. These projects are mutually exclusive, equally risky, and not repeatable. The CEO believes the IRR is the best selection criterion, while the CFO advocates the NPV. If the decision is made by choosing the project with the higher IRR rather than the one with the higher NPV, how much, if any, value will be forgone, i.e., what's the chosen NPV versus the maximum possible NPV? Note that (1) "true value" is measured by NPV, and (2) under some conditions the choice of IRR vs. NPV will have no effect on the value gained or lost.

Assume that the economy is in a mild recession, and as a result interest rates and money costs generally are relatively low. The WACC for two mutually exclusive projects that are being considered is 8%. Project S has an IRR of 20% while Project L's IRR is 15%. The projects have the same NPV at the 8% current WACC. However, you believe that the economy is about to recover, and money costs and thus your WACC will also increase. You also think that the projects will not be funded until the WACC has increased, and their cash flows will not be affected by the change in economic conditions. Under these conditions, which of the following statements is CORRECT?

Thorley Inc. is considering a project that has the following cash flow data. What is the project's IRR? Note that a project's IRR can be less than the WACC or negative, in both cases it will be rejected.

Susmel Inc. is considering a project that has the following cash flow data. What is the project's payback?

Assuming that their NPVs based on the firm's cost of capital are equal, the NPV of a project whose cash flows accrue relatively rapidly will be more sensitive to changes in the discount rate than the NPV of a project whose cash flows come in later in its life.

Sexton Inc. is considering Projects S and L, whose cash flows are shown below. These projects are mutually exclusive, equally risky, and not repeatable. If the decision is made by choosing the project with the higher IRR, how much value will be forgone? Note that under certain conditions choosing projects on the basis of the IRR will not cause any value to be lost because the project with the higher IRR will also have the higher NPV, so no value will be lost if the IRR method is used.

Which of the following statements is CORRECT?

Masulis Inc. is considering a project that has the following cash flow and WACC data. What is the project's discounted payback?

Both the regular and the modified IRR (MIRR) methods have wide appeal to professors, but most business executives prefer the NPV method to either of the IRR methods.

Which of the following statements is CORRECT? Assume that the project being considered has normal cash flows, with one outflow followed by a series of inflows.

The regular payback method is deficient in that it does not take account of cash flows beyond the payback period. The discounted payback method corrects this fault.

Which of the following statements is CORRECT?

Which of the following statements is CORRECT?

In theory, capital budgeting decisions should depend solely on forecasted cash flows and the opportunity cost of capital. The decision criterion should not be affected by managers' tastes, choice of accounting method, or the profitability of other independent projects.

Warr Company is considering a project that has the following cash flow data. What is the project's IRR? Note that a project's IRR can be less than the WACC or negative, in both cases it will be rejected.

Mansi Inc. is considering a project that has the following cash flow data. What is the project's payback?