Brandon Company is contemplating the purchase of a new piece of equipment for $45,000. Brandon is in the 30% income tax bracket. Predicted annual after-tax cash inflows from this investment are $18,000, $15,000, $9,000, $6,000 and $3,000 for years 1 through 5, respectively. The firm uses straight-line depreciation with no residual value at the end of five years. Assume that the after-tax hurdle rate for accepting new capital investment projects by the company is 4%, after-tax. (Note: To answer this question, students will have to be provided with the Tables provided in Appendix C, Chapter 12. Alternatively, the instructor can provide students with the following PV $1 factors for 4%: for year 1 = 0.962, for year 2 = 0.925, for year 3 = 0.889, for year 4 = 0.855, for year 5 = 0.822; the PV annuity factor for 4%, 5 years = 4.452.) The estimated internal rate of return (IRR) on this investment is:

Multiple Choice

• Undeterminable with only the given information.

• Less than 4%.

• Greater than 6%.

• 4%.

• Slightly above 4%.