9. Profitability index Estimating the cash flow generated by $1 invested in a project The profitability index (PI) is a capital budgeting tool that is defined as the present value of a projects cash inflows divided by the absolute value of its initial cash outflow. Consider this case: Happy Dog Soap Company is considering investing $2,750,000 in a project that is expected to generate the following net cash flows: Year Cash Flow Year 1 $275,000 Year 2 $500,000 Year 3 $475,000 Year 4 $475,000 Happy Dog Soap Company uses a WACC of 8% when evaluating proposed capital budgeting projects. Based on these cash flows, determine this projects PI (rounded to four decimal places): 0.4869 0.5125 0.5638 0.4613 Happy Dog Soap Companys decision to accept or reject this project is independent of its decisions on other projects. Based on the projects PI, the firm should (ACCEPT or REJECT) the project? By comparison, the NPV of this project is (-$1,340,491, -$1,608,589, or -$1,072,343)?. On the basis of this evaluation criterion, Happy Dog Soap Company should INVEST or NOT INVEST in the project because the project WILL or WILL NOT increase the firms value.