Capital Budgeting: The Role of Cost Allocations

Abstract

A common issue for firms is how to allocate capital resources to various investment alternatives. An extensive literature in finance has examined various aspects of capital budgeting, including capital constraints, the determination of discount rates, and alternative approaches to estimating cash flows and handling risk, such as real options techniques. In terms of organizational structure, a central feature of the capital budgeting process in large firms is that relevant information about the profitability of potential investment projects resides with one or several managers. It is generally accepted that preferences of these managers may not coincide with those of the firm’s owners (the principal). Consequences of asymmetric information include strategic reporting by better-informed managers (for example, “sandbagging” or “creative optimism”) and a need to measure performance ex post. Surveys consistently find that internal rate of return (IRR) criteria remain prevalent in capital budgeting decisions. Furthermore the use of artificially high hurdle rates suggests widespread capital rationing [15, 20].