(120)---NATURE AND INTRODUCTION OF INVESTMENT DECISIONS

Nature and Introduction of Investment Decisions

An efficient allocation of capital is the most important finance function in the modern items. It involves decisions to commit the firm’s funds to the long term assets. Capital budgeting or investment decisions are of considerable importance to the firm since they tend to determine its value by influencing its growth, profitability and risk.

The investment decisions of a firm are generally known as the capital budgeting, or capital expenditure decisions. A capital budgeting decision may be define as the firm’s decisions to invest its current funds most efficiently in the long term assets in anticipation of an expected flow of benefits over a series of years.

The long term assets are those that affect the firm’s operations beyond the one year period. The firm’s investment decisions would generally include expansion, acquisition, modernization and replacement of the long term asset. Sale of division or business is also as an investment decision. Decisions like the change in the methods of sales distribution, or an advertisement campaign or a research and development programmed have long term implications for the firm’s expenditures and benefits, and therefore, they should also be evaluated as investment decisions.

It is important to note that investment in the long term assets invariably requires large funds to be tied up in the current assets such as inventories and receivables. As such, investment in fixed and current assets is one single activity.

The following are the features of investment decisions,

• The exchange of current funds for future benefits.
• The funds are invested in long term assets.
• The future benefits will occur to the firm over a series of years.