Ch 11 Cash Flow Estimation and Risk Analysis
As computer technology advances, simulation analysis becomes increasingly obsolete and thus less likely to
be used as compared to sensitivity analysis.
Sensitivity analysis as it is generally employed is incomplete in that it fails to consider the probability of
occurrence of the key input variables.
FMTP.EHRH.17.11.07 – LO: 11-7
United States – BUSPROG: Analytic
United States – AK – DISC: Capital budgeting and cost – DISC: Capital budgeting and cost of
United States – OH – Default City – TBA
Sensitivity, scenario, & sim.
TYPE: Multiple Choice: Conceptual
77. Which of the following procedures does the text say is used most frequently by businesses when they do capital
budgeting analyses?
Differential project risk cannot be accounted for by using “risk-adjusted discount rates” because it is highly
subjective and difficult to justify. It is better to not risk adjust at all.
Other things held constant, if returns on a project are thought to be positively correlated with the returns on
other firms in the economy, then the project’s NPV will be found using a lower discount rate than would be
appropriate if the project’s returns were negatively correlated.
Monte Carlo simulation uses a computer to generate random sets of inputs, those inputs are then used to
determine a trial NPV, and a number of trial NPVs are averaged to find the project’s expected NPV. Sensitivity
and scenario analyses, on the other hand, require much more information regarding the input variables,
including probability distributions and correlations among those variables. This makes it easier to implement a
simulation analysis than a scenario or a sensitivity analysis, hence simulation is the most frequently used
procedure.
DCF techniques were originally developed to value passive investments (stocks and bonds). However, capital
budgeting projects are not passive investments⎯managers can often take positive actions after the investment
has been made that alter the cash flow stream. Opportunities for such actions are called real options. Real
options are valuable, but this value is not captured by conventional NPV analysis. Therefore, a project’s real
options must be considered separately.
The firm’s corporate, or overall, WACC is used to discount all project cash flows to find the projects’ NPVs.
Then, depending on how risky different projects are judged to be, the calculated NPVs are scaled up or down
to adjust for differential risk.