Cost of capital does not refer to the cost of some specific source in the financial decision-making.
Weighted Average Cost of
Capital
Cost of capital does not refer to
the cost of some specific source in the financial decision-making. It should be
the over- all cost of all sources and we should consider the weighted cost of
capital. Weights are given in proportion to each source of funds in the capital
structure; then weighted average cost of capital is calculated.
For
calculating the weighted average cost of capital, we should know the capital
structure of the company. Let us assume that the proposed capital structure of a company after new financing would be as
follows:
Secondly, we should calculate the cost of different types of capital
stated above, before-tax in the manner in which we studied so far.
Suppose
the firm has calculated the cost of each
source of capital before-tax as follows:
with these figures, the weighted average cost of
capital is calculated for the company as shown in the following Table.
The weighted average cost of capital in the above
imaginary illustration is 15.12 per cent, before-tax.
After-tax cost of capital = Before-tax cost (1 —
tax-rate). Assuming the tax-rate as 55% after-tax cost of capital
comes to :
This average cost of capital
provides us a measure of the minimum rate of return which the proposed
investment must earn to turn out to be acceptable.
All
business decisions relating to capital budgeting and assessment of cost of
capital are made under conditions of uncertainty. The management cannot ignore
the risks and uncertainties associated with capital budgeting. Capital budgeting
is influenced by many factors like the industrial policy of the government,
location pattern, and Government’s policy on investments, benefits of tax
incentives and the availability of inputs.
Tags : Financial Management - Capital Budgeting – A Conceptual Framework
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