Two of the financial management decisions that we learned this semester include:

Question

Two of the financial management decisions that we learned this semester include: capital structure and capital budgeting. Describe each financial management process, their respective importance within an organization, and provide an example of a business transaction that would be relevant. Your discussion on capital structure should describe WACC and explain its role within capital structure as well as in capital budgeting as a hurdle rate. Also, discuss the capital budgeting techniques that are used to determine a project’s value over time including the advantages and disadvantages of each as well as how a firm decides whether to accept or reject a project if using NPV or IRR.

Explanation / Answer

The capital structure is how a firm finances its overall operations and growth by using different sources of funds. Debt comes in the form of bond issues or long-term notes payable, while equity is classified as common stock, preferred stock or retained earnings.

Debt and equity are the two components that constitute a company’s capital funding. Lenders and equity holders will expect to receive certain returns on the funds or capital they have provided. Since cost of capital is the return that equity owners (or shareholders) and debt holders will expect, so WACC indicates the return that both kinds of stakeholders(equity owners and lenders) can expect to receive. Put another way, WACC is an investor’s opportunity cost of taking on the risk of investing money in a company.

A firm's WACC is the overall required return for a firm. Because of this, company directors will often use WACC internally in order to make decisions, like determining the economic feasibility of mergers and other expansionary opportunities. WACC is the discount rate that should be used for cash flows with risk that is similar to that of the overall firm.

Capital budgeting, and investment appraisal, is the planning process used to determine whether an organization's long term investments such as new machinery, replacement of machinery, new plants, new products, and research development projects are worth the funding of cash through the firm's capitalization structure

Net Present Value (NPV) is the difference between the present value of cash inflows and the present value of cash outflows. NPV is used in capital budgeting to analyze the profitability of a projected investment or project.

IRR

In theory, any project with an IRR greater than its cost of capital is a profitable one, and thus it is in a company’s interest to undertake such projects. In planning investment projects, firms will often establish a required rate of return (RRR) to determine the minimum acceptable return percentage that the investment in question must earn in order to be worthwhile. Any project with an IRR that exceeds the RRR will likely be deemed a profitable one, although companies will not necessarily pursue a project on this basis alone. Rather, they will likely pursue projects with the highest difference between IRR and RRR, as chances are these will be the most profitable.

IRRs can also be compared against prevailing rates of return in the securities market. If a firm can't find any projects with IRRs greater than the returns that can be generated in the financial markets, it may simply choose to invest its retained earnings into the market.

Payback period in capital budgeting refers to the period of time required to recoup the funds expended in an investment, or to reach the break-even point. For example, a $1000 investment made at the start of year 1 which returned $500 at the end of year 1 and year 2 respectively would have a two-year payback period.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse T
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.