Open AccessCapital budgeting practices used by selected listed South African firms
Author(s) -
John H. Hall,
Sollie M. Millard
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
suid-afrikaanse tydskrif vir ekonomiese en bestuurswetenskappe/south african journal of economic and management sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.277
H-Index - 17
eISSN - 2222-3436
pISSN - 1015-8812
DOI - 10.4102/sajems.v13i1.200
Subject(s) - capital budgeting , net present value , internal rate of return , cash flow , cost of capital , capital (architecture) , sample (material) , modified internal rate of return , present value , economics , accounting , business , return on capital employed , finance , financial capital , return on investment , capital formation , project appraisal , production (economics) , macroeconomics , investment performance , economic growth , profit (economics) , history , chemistry , archaeology , chromatography , microeconomics , human capital
This article investigates the application of capital budgeting techniques and the incorporation of risk into the capital budgeting process among a sample of South African industrial firms listed on the JSE Securities Exchange for at least ten years. Previous international and local research on this topic indicated a preference for the internal rate of return (IRR) as a capital budgeting method over the net present value (NPV), and that risk incorporation was relatively rarely incorporated into the capital budgeting process. The results of this study indicate that the NPV is just as popular as, and sometimes more so than, the IRR. Furthermore, compared to previous studies, risk is incorporated into evaluating capital budgeting projects more often. Sensitivity analysis is the most popular method, but adjustments to the cash flows and discount rate are becoming more popular. During the last decade the use of non-financial criteria to accept or reject a project has also increased in South Africa