Question

Question 1
Norway (Pty) Ltd is a divisionalised company, where the divisional managers’ remuneration packages are linked to the return on investment of their divisions. Return on investment is based on the net book value of assets employed in the division at the beginning of the financial year. On average, divisional managers remain in their posts for a three-year period.
The manager of the Scandinavian division is considering two mutually exclusive alternative proposals for investing in new machinery. These proposals both involve an initial outlay of R250 000, but will yield different levels of savings over the life of the machinery, which is estimated at five years, after which they will have no residual value. Norway (Pty) Ltd ‘s depreciation, is calculated on a straight-line basis.
The savings will give rise to increased cash flows as follows:
Year
Machine
A
Cash flows
B
Cash flows
1
80 000
100 000
2
80 000
90 000
3
80 000
80 000
4
100 000
60 000
5
100 000
40 000
Required:
1. Appraise each project, using
a) return on investment, as described above
b) net present value, using the company’s cost of capital of 6%
15 marks
Based on your results from (1), explain which machine the divisional manager is likely to choose and discuss the potential conflict between performance measurement and investment appraisal.

Answer 1