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Investment Appraisal (investment + appraisal)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting	60%

Selected Abstracts

Appraising and Evaluating PFI for NHS Hospitals

FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY & MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2001
Julie Froud
This paper explores the use of appraisal in the development of proposals to use private finance to provide acute hospitals under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI). It addresses the extent to which value for money (VFM) and affordability (which must be satisfied to enable a scheme to be approved) are demonstrated in the documents prepared by hospital Trusts. It identifies a number of issues (such as the transfer of risk and the development of public sector comparators) that pose new problems for investment appraisal, which are specific to its application to PFI. [source]

Project Appraisal and Capital Investment Decision Making in the Scottish Water Industry

FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY & MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2000
Paul Coleshill
Restructuring the Scottish water industry has changed the way in which both project appraisal and capital investment decisions are performed. This article examines the project appraisal and subsequent capital investment decision in the case of a reed bed sewage treatment scheme which is compared with a more traditional scheme. Although the capital profiles of the schemes are similar there are major differences in the revenue costs. In addition, there are potential public benefits to the reed bed scheme. A comparison is made of management mechanisms in the pre-1996 water industry with that of restructured water authorities. In the pre-1996 water industry, local authorities had a broad remit which encouraged them to value these factors, in effect an implicit social account. The creation of water authorities with narrow remits and specific performance measures, constructed a framework that does not support the integration of social accounts into the decision making process. The paper demonstrates that investment appraisal is a product of the institutional framework in which the decisions are made. As that framework changes, mechanisms and measures of accountability shift in parallel. [source]

Evaluating e-government: learning from the experiences of two UK local authorities

INFORMATION SYSTEMS JOURNAL, Issue 1 2005
Zahir Irani
Abstract. Part of the remit of public sector management includes planning and reflecting on capital expenditure on new technology. With this in mind, the role that information systems play in supporting improvements in e-government service delivery to stakeholder groups continues to attract much attention. The authors of this paper seek to define the scope and role that information systems evaluation plays within the public sector. In particular, the authors assess whether public sector organizations might benefit from the use of established ex-ante evaluation techniques, when applied to analyse the impact of e-government information systems. Following a comprehensive review of the normative literature, an initial conceptual framework for public sector information systems evaluation is proposed, which is then empirically explored within two local government authorities. The conceptual framework is then revised by using the structured case approach, which is dependent on an iterative research cycle where triangulated data are elicited. This then supports the emergence of new concepts during each research cycle that leads to the view that information systems evaluation in the public sector is a process of experiential and subjective judgement, which is grounded in opinion and world views. This leads the authors to challenge the appropriateness of traditional modes of investment appraisal when applied in the public sector. The finalized framework embraces investment decisions, evaluation methods, culture and structure, as well as post hoc evaluation. It emphasizes the importance of situated, interpretive user assessments in evaluating e-government investments. [source]

Capital investment appraisal: a new risk premium model

INTERNATIONAL TRANSACTIONS IN OPERATIONAL RESEARCH, Issue 2 2003
Rose Baker
Net Present Value (NPV) is the principal valuation model of the financial literature. Firms are accordingly directed, as a matter of good practice, to adopt the model for selecting investment projects, yet questionnaire surveys show that the adoption rate has been very slow and the quality of usage questionable. In particular, alternative risk measures are popular amongst practitioners. In this paper we remodel the treatment of risk in the NPV model based on assumptions that seem realistic in an organizational or operational, as opposed to a personal, investment context. We derive formulas for calculating: the appropriate discount rate, a ,risk horizon' (where the risk premium exceeds the expected value), and a maximum default hazard point for projects. These measures provide a rationale for non-NPV approaches to risk measurement in questionnaire responses and offer a practical benefit to investors. [source]

Environmental management accounting: roadblocks on the way to the green and pleasant land

BUSINESS STRATEGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, Issue 1 2004
Roger L Burritt
Environmental management accounting (EMA) is concerned with the accounting information needs of managers in relation to corporate activities that affect the environment as well as environment-related impacts on the corporation. It is an area of practice and research that has developed rapidly in the last ten years. This paper briefly considers some of the main conceptual and practical problems encountered in environmental management accounting and challenges and opportunities for the future. It concludes with a call for further case based research studies into investment appraisal, costing and performance management aspects of environmental management accounting. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]