One duty of a financial manager is to choose investments with satisfactory cash flows and rates of return. Therefore, a financial manager must be able to decide whether an investment is worth undertaking and be able to choose intelligently between two or more alternatives. To do this, a sound procedure to evaluate, compare, and select projects is needed. This procedure is called capital budgeting.
Virtually all general managers face capital-budgeting decisions in the course of their careers. The most common of these is the simple “yes” versus “no” choice about a capital investment. Regardless of the type of project, however, certain principles of capital budgeting should always be considered. The most important of these principles are:
Focus on cash flows, not profits.
Focus on incremental cash flows.
Account for time.
Account for risk.
Write an essay discussing the meaning and importance of each of these principles as they apply to capital budgeting. Evaluate the importance of each principle and discuss the consequences of ignoring any of these principles.
You must use a minimum of 3 scholarly sources to support your discussion.