Up until now, Mzansi Systems has been using the payback period in its capital
budgeting decisions. A recent article in the GIBS Business Review on the use of
discounted cash flow methods versus the payback method in capital budgeting
decisions caught the attention of Edison Brown, the president of Mzansi Systems. The
article indicated that use of the payback period frequently resulted in the decision
not to make investments that may otherwise be profitable under a discounted cash
flow technique. Brown decided that his firm should begin to use one of the more
sophisticated techniques.
Mzansi Systems manufactures fluid control devices that have a wide variety of
applications. Most of its standard items sell in the range of R30,000 - R60,000. Since
the control device is a specialised precision instrument, many of Mzansi Systems’
salesmen are engineers or have at least some engineering background. Marketing
of the control devices has emphasised only the engineering aspects of the products.
Recently, however, the company has been giving increasing thought to stressing the
economic aspects of the product line in its advertising campaigns. Management is
considering giving the sales force a short course on the economics of replacement
decisions to help them convince potential customers of the advantages of
replacing old control systems with the new types Mzansi Systems has to offer.
Edison learnt that Cohen, a UWC post graduate, who has recently joined Mzansi
Systems as a Systems Analyst, has taken the Profit Determination and Financial

6

Analysis course on his management program and was well versed in capital
budgeting techniques. He thus asked Cohen to help the marketing department
develop the promotional literature and to train the salesmen in the use of
discounted cash flow capital budgeting techniques. Cohen agreed to the
assignment, and he and the sale manager, Charles Kane, decided to start by
analysing one of the standard control devices – a unit that sells for R50,000 delivered.
The following facts, which Kane indicated were fairly typical, were to be used in the
illustrative material:
1. The equipment has a delivered cost of R50,000. An additional R3,750 is
required to install the new machine. This amount is added to the cost of the
machine for purposes of computing depreciation.
2. The new control device has a 20-year estimated service life. At the end of 20
years, the estimated salvage value is R1,250.
3. The existing control device has been in use for approximately 30 years, and it
has been fully depreciated (that is, its book value is zero). However, its value
for scrap purposes is estimated to be R1,250.
4. The new equipment is to be depreciated on a straight-line basis. The
applicable tax rate for the illustrative firm is 40 percent.
5. The new control device requires lower maintenance costs and frees
personnel who would otherwise have to monitor the system. In addition, it
reduces product wastage. In total, it is estimated that the yearly savings will
amount to R11,250 if the new control device is used.
6. The illustrative firm’s cost of capital is 10 percent.

Questions
a. Develop a capital budgeting schedule that evaluates the relative
merits of replacing the old machine with the new one. Use the net
present value method.

[14 marks]

b. Calculate the payback period (using after-tax cash flows) for the
investment in a new control device

[3 marks]

c. Explain why the payback period puts long-term investments such
as hydraulic control devices at a relative disadvantage vis-a-vis
short-term investment projects.

[3 marks]

d. Suppose one of the salesmen was making a presentation to a
potential customer who used the internal rate of return method in
evaluating capital projects. What is the internal rate of return of this
project?

[4 marks]

e. What would be the effect on net present value if accelerated
depreciation, rather than straight line depreciation was used? Give
the direction of change, not precise figures.

[3 marks]

f. What would be the effect of an investment tax credit on the
analysis? An investment tax credit is a credit against income taxes

[3 marks]

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equal to a specified percentage of the cost of an investment.
g. Suppose one of Mzansi Systems’ potential customers had a 50%
marginal tax rate. Determine (a) what items would be changed
and (b) whether the IRR and NPV would be raised or lowered by
the shift in tax rates.