Ranking Investment Proposals: Payback Period, Accounting Rate of Return, and Net Present Value Presented is information pertaining to the cash flows of three mutually exclusive investment proposals: Proposal A Proposal B Proposal C Initial investment $ 45,000 $ 45,000 $ 45,000 Cash flow from operations Year 1 40,000 22,500 45,000 Year 2 5,000 22,500 Year 3 22,500 22,500 Disinvestment 0 0 0 Life (years) 3 years 3 years 1 year (a) Select the best investment proposal using the payback period, the accounting rate of return on initial investment, and the net present value criteria. Assume that the organization's cost of capital is 12 percent. Round accounting rate of return four decimal places. Round net present value to the nearest whole number. Use negative signs with your answers, when appropriate. Proposal A Proposal B Proposal C Best proposal Payback period (years) Answer 1.66 Answer 1.21 Answer 0 Answer Accounting rate of return Answer 24.07 Answer 16.67 Answer 0 Answer Net present value $Answer 10,663 $Answer 1,936 $Answer (4,860) Answer (b) Factors explaining the differences in rankings include all of the following except: The accounting rate of return considers profitability while payback only considers the time required to recover the investment. While the accounting rate of return explicitly considers the cost of the asset as part of annual depreciation the net present value method considers the cost of the asset as part of the initial investment. Net present value considers the timing of cash flows while payback considers only total cash flows. The net present value method considers the cost of capital while the payback method does not discount future cash flows.