If a firm plans to issue new stock, flotation costs (investment bankers' fees) should not be ignored. There are two approaches to use to account for flotation costs. The first approach is to add the sum of flotation costs for the debt, preferred, and common stock and add them to the initial investment cost. Because the investment cost is increased, the project's expected rate of return is reduced so it may not meet the firm's hurdle rate for acceptance of the project. The second approach involves adjusting the cost of common equity as follows: The difference between the flotation-adjusted cost of equity and the cost of equity calculated without the flotation adjustment represents the flotation cost adjustment