The net present value (NPV) rule is considered one of the most common and preferred criteria that generally lead to good investment decisions. Consider this case: Suppose Happy Dog Soap Company is evaluating a proposed capital budgeting project (project Beta) that will require an initial investment of $2,750,000. The project is expected to generate the following net cash flows: Year Cash Flow Year 1 Year 2 $300,000 $450,000 $450,000 Year 3 Year 4 $400,000 Happy Dog Soap Company's weighted average cost of capital is 10%, and project Beta has the same risk as the firm's average project. Based on the cash flows, what is project Beta's NPV? -$1,194,075 O $1,718,186 -$1,494,075 0-$1,792,890 Making the accept or reject decision Happy Dog Soap Company's decision to accept or reject project Beta is independent of its decisions on other projects. If the firm follows the NPV method, it should project Beta. Suppose your boss has asked you to analyze two mutually exclusive projects-project A and project B. Both projects require the same investment amount, and the sum of cash inflows of Project A is larger than the sum of cash inflows of project B. A coworker told you that you don't need to do an NPV analysis of the projects because you already know that project A will have a larger NPV than project B. Do you agree with your coworker's statement? No, the NPV calculation will take into account not only the projects' cash inflows but also the timing of cash inflows and outflows. Consequently, project B could have a larger NPV than project A, even though project A has larger cash inflows. No, the NPV calculation is based on percentage returns, so the size of a project's cash flows does not affect a project's NPV. Yes, project A will always have the largest NPV, because its cash inflows are greater than project B's cash inflows. Purple Whale Foodstuffs Inc. is evaluating a proposed capital budgeting project (project Sigma) that will require an initial investment of $800,000. Purple Whale Foodstuffs Inc. has been basing capital budgeting decisions on a project's NPV; however, its new CFO wants to start using the IRR method for capital budgeting decisions. The CFO says that the IRR is a better method because returns in percentage form are easier to understand and compare to required returns. Purple Whale Foodstuffs Inc.'s WACC is 8%, and project Sigma has the same risk as the firm's average project. The project is expected to generate the following net cash flows: Year Cash Flow Year 1 $350,000 Year 2 $475,000 Year 3 $425,000 Year 4 $500,000 Which of the following is the correct calculation of project Sigma's IRR? 42.02% 36.29% 38.20% 32.47% If this is an independent project, the IRR method states that the firm should If the project's cost of capital were to increase, how would that affect the IRR? The IRR would not change. The IRR would decrease. The IRR would increase