In: Finance
Describe how the payback period is calculated and describe the information this measure provides about a sequence of cash flows. What is the payback criterion decision rule? What are the problems associated with using the payback period as a means of evaluating cash flows? What are the advantages of using the payback period to evaluate cash flows?
Describe how the payback period is calculated and describe the
information this measure provides about a sequence of cash
flows.
ANS:Payback period is calculated by dividing initial investment by
cash inflow per period. Payback period is basically the time taken
to recover the initial investment. For example, if intial
investment for a project is $10 Lakh and cash flow generated by
that project every year is $2 lakh then payback period will be 5
years.
What is the payback criterion decision rule?
ANS: The project should be accepted only if its payback period is
less than the target payback period.
What are the problems associated with using the payback period as a
means of evaluating cash flows?
ANS: Firstly, payback period neither take into account the time
value of money nor the cash flows that occur after the payback
period.
Secondly, it tends to ignore projects profitability, every projects
having short payback period might not be profitable. This in turn
can lead to wrong decision making.
What are the advantages of using the payback period to evaluate
cash flows?
ANS:Firstly, it helps in evaluating a good ranking of the projects
that would return money early. This may help the companies which
are facing liquidity problems.
Secondly, it helps to measure the amount of risks associated with
the project. Lastly, it is simple to calculate.