The following table shows two schedules of prospective operating cash inflows, each of which requires the same net initial investment of $10,000 for a new system now:
Annual Cash Inflows
Year Plan A Plan B
1 $1,000 $5,000
2 2,000 4,000
3 3,000 3,000
4 4,000 2,000
5 5,000 1,000
Total $15,000 $15,000
The required rate of return is 6%. All cash inflows occur at the end of each year. The initial investment has a five-year life with $0 residual value at the end of the fifth year.
Compute the following (show your computation)
- Net present value
- Payback period
- Internal rate of return (use Excel)
- Accounting rate of return based on net initial investment (Assume straight-line depreciation.)
- Which plan is more desirable using these four methods? Explain. (use the cutoff period of 3 years for payback period.)