Capital rationing decision for a service company involving four proposals

Renaissance Capital Group is considering allocating a limited amount of capital investment funds among four proposals. The amount of proposed investment, estimated operating income, and net cash flow for each proposal are as follows:

Proposal	Investment	Year	Operating Income	Net Cash Flow
Proposal A:	$500,000	1	$ 45,000	$ 145,000
Proposal A:		2	40,000	140,000
Proposal A:		3	25,000	125,000
Proposal A:		4	20,000	120,000
Proposal A:		5	5,000	105,000
Total			$135,000	$635,000
Proposal B:	$400,000	1	$ 40,000	$ 120,000
Proposal B:		2	20,000	100,000
Proposal B:		3	10,000	90,000
Proposal B:		4	10,000	90,000
Proposal B:		5	6,000	86,000
Total			$ 86,000	$486,000
Proposal C:	$380,000	1	$ 54,000	$ 130,000
Proposal C:		2	49,000	125,000
Proposal C:		3	49,000	125,000
Proposal C:		4	44,000	120,000
Proposal C:		5	44,000	120,000
Total			$240,000	$620,000
Proposal D:	$675,000	1	$135,000	$270,000
Proposal D:		2	120,000	255,000
Proposal D:		3	90,000	225,000
Proposal D:		4	15,000	150,000
Proposal D:		5	10,000	145,000
Total			$370,000	$1,045,000

The company's capital rationing policy requires a maximum cash payback period of 3 years. In addition, a minimum average rate of return of 10% is required on all projects. If the preceding standards are met, the net present value method and present value indexes are used to rank the remaining proposals.

Present Value of $1 at Compound Interest

Year	6%	10%	12%	15%	20%
1	0.943	0.909	0.893	0.870	0.833
2	0.890	0.826	0.797	0.756	0.694
3	0.840	0.751	0.712	0.658	0.579
4	0.792	0.683	0.636	0.572	0.482
5	0.747	0.621	0.567	0.497	0.402
6	0.705	0.564	0.507	0.432	0.335
7	0.665	0.513	0.452	0.376	0.279
8	0.627	0.467	0.404	0.327	0.233
9	0.592	0.424	0.361	0.284	0.194
10	0.558	0.386	0.322	0.247	0.162

Required:

1. Compute the cash payback period for each of the four proposals.

Proposal	Cash Payback Period
Proposal A	2 years3 years3 years 6 months3 years 9 months4 years3 years 9 months
Proposal B	2 years2 years 3 months3 years3 years 3 months4 years4 years
Proposal C	2 years2 years 9 months3 years3 years 6 months4 years3 years
Proposal D	2 years 3 months2 years 8 months3 years3 years 3 months3 years 10 months2 years 8 months

2. Giving effect to straight-line depreciation on the investments and assuming no estimated residual value, compute the average rate of return for each of the four proposals. If required, round your answers to one decimal place.

Proposal	Average Rate of Return
Proposal A	fill in the blank 5 %
Proposal B	fill in the blank 6 %
Proposal C	fill in the blank 7 %
Proposal D	fill in the blank 8 %

3. Using the following format, summarize the results of your computations in parts (1) and (2) by placing the calculated amounts in the first two columns on the left and indicate which proposals should be accepted for further analysis and which should be rejected. If required, round your answers to one decimal place.

Proposal	Cash Payback Period	Average Rate of Return	Accept or Reject
A	2 years2 years, 8 months3 years, 9 months4 years	fill in the blank 10 %	AcceptReject
B	2 years2 years, 8 months3 years, 4 months4 years	fill in the blank 13 %	AcceptReject
C	2 years2 years, 8 months3 years4 years	fill in the blank 16 %	AcceptReject
D	2 years2 years, 3 months2 years, 8 months4 years	fill in the blank 19 %	AcceptReject

4. For the proposals accepted for further analysis in part (3), compute the net present value. Use a rate of 15% and the present value of $1 table above. Round to the nearest dollar.

Line Item Description	Answer	Answer
Select the proposal accepted for further analysis.	Proposal AProposal CProposal A	Proposal BProposal D
Present value of net cash flow total	$fill in the blank 23	$fill in the blank 24
Less amount to be invested	fill in the blank 25	fill in the blank 26
Net present value	$fill in the blank 27	$fill in the blank 28

5. Compute the present value index for each of the proposals in part (4). If required, round your answers to two decimal places.

Line Item Description	Answer	Answer
Select proposal to compute Present value index.	Proposal AProposal C	Proposal BProposal D
Present value index (rounded)	fill in the blank 31	fill in the blank 32

6. Rank the proposals from most attractive to least attractive, based on the present values of net cash flows computed in part (4). Rank 1st

Proposal AProposal BProposal CProposal D

Rank 2nd

Proposal AProposal BProposal CProposal D

7. Rank the proposals from most attractive to least attractive, based on the present value indexes computed in part (5). Rank 1st

Proposal AProposal BProposal CProposal D

Rank 2nd

Proposal AProposal BProposal CProposal D

8. The analysis indicates that although Proposal fill in the blank 1 of 5

ABCD

has the larger net present value, it is not as attractive as Proposal fill in the blank 2 of 5

ABCD

in terms of the amount of present value per dollar invested. Proposal fill in the blank 3 of 5

ABCD

requires the larger investment. Thus, management should use investment resources for Proposal fill in the blank 4 of 5

ABCD

before investing in Proposal fill in the blank 5 of 5

ABCD

, absent any other qualitative considerations that may impact the decision.