IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/acctfi/v53y2013i1p85-110.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Determinants of capital budgeting methods and hurdle rates in Nordic firms

Author

Listed:
  • Tor Brunzell
  • Eva Liljeblom
  • Mika Vaihekoski

Abstract

type="main" xml:lang="en"> We study the determinants for the choice of capital budgeting methods and the setting of hurdle rates (WACCs) in five Nordic countries. Combining survey data with a rich set of determinants, including ownership data, CFO characteristics, and financial data, we find that the use of the Net Present Value method and the sophistication of the capital budgeting are related to firm characteristics, variables proxying for real option features in investments and CFO characteristics (age and education). We also find support for significantly higher hurdle rates than motivated by economic theory. The premium is weakly positively related to managerial short-term pressure and strongly negatively related to the sophistication level of the firm’s capital budgeting.

Suggested Citation

  • Tor Brunzell & Eva Liljeblom & Mika Vaihekoski, 2013. "Determinants of capital budgeting methods and hurdle rates in Nordic firms," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 53(1), pages 85-110, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:acctfi:v:53:y:2013:i:1:p:85-110
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/j.1467-629X.2011.00462.x
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John Graham & Campbell Harvey, 2002. "HOW DO CFOs MAKE CAPITAL BUDGETING AND CAPITAL STRUCTURE DECISIONS?," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 15(1), pages 8-23, March.
    2. Ravi Jagannathan & Iwan Meier & Vefa Tarhan, 2011. "The Cross-Section of Hurdle Rates for Capital Budgeting: An Empirical Analysis of Survey Data," NBER Working Papers 16770, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Hermes, Niels & Smid, Peter & Yao, Lu, 2007. "Capital budgeting practices: A comparative study of the Netherlands and China," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 630-654, October.
    4. Thakor, Anjan V, 1990. "Investment "Myopia" and the Internal Organization of Capital Allocation Decisions," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 6(1), pages 129-154, Spring.
    5. Andrea Bassanini & Stefano Scarpetta & Philip Hemmings, 2001. "Economic Growth: The Role of Policies and Institutions: Panel Data. Evidence from OECD Countries," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 283, OECD Publishing.
    6. Dirk Brounen & Abe de Jong & Kees Koedijk, 2004. "Corporate Finance in Europe: Confronting Theory with Practice," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 33(4), Winter.
    7. Ravi Jagannathan & Iwan Meier, 2002. "Do We Need CAPM for Capital Budgeting?," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 31(4), Winter.
    8. Fernandez, Pablo & del Campo, Javier, 2011. "Market risk premium used in 2010 by professors: A survey with 1,500 answers," IESE Research Papers D/911, IESE Business School.
    9. Klammer, Thomas, 1972. "Empirical Evidence of the Adoption of Sophisticated Capital Budgeting Techniques," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 45(3), pages 387-397, July.
    10. Simon Gilchrist & Egon Zakrajsek, 2007. "Investment and the Cost of Capital: New Evidence from the Corporate Bond Market," NBER Working Papers 13174, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Sandahl, Gert & Sjogren, Stefan, 2003. "Capital budgeting methods among Sweden's largest groups of companies. The state of the art and a comparison with earlier studies," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 51-69, April.
    12. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1998. "Law and Finance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(6), pages 1113-1155, December.
    13. Paul Gompers & Joy Ishii & Andrew Metrick, 2003. "Corporate Governance and Equity Prices," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(1), pages 107-156.
    14. Andrea Bassanini & Stefano Scarpetta, 2003. "The Driving Forces of Economic Growth: Panel Data Evidence for the OECD Countries," OECD Economic Studies, OECD Publishing, vol. 2001(2), pages 9-56.
    15. Miller, Richard A., 2009. "The weighted average cost of capital is not quite right," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 128-138, February.
    16. John Martin & Sheridan Titman, 2008. "Single vs. Multiple Discount Rates: How to Limit “Influence Costs” in the Capital Allocation Process," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 20(2), pages 79-83, March.
    17. Brounen, D. & de Jong, A. & Koedijk, C.G., 2004. "Corporate Finance In Europe Confronting Theory With Practice," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2004-002-F&A, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    18. Robert L. McDonald, 2006. "The Role of Real Options in Capital Budgeting: Theory and Practice1," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 18(2), pages 28-39, March.
    19. Elazar Berkovitch, 2004. "Why the NPV Criterion does not Maximize NPV," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 17(1), pages 239-255.
    20. Carlo Alberto Magni, 2008. "CAPM‐based capital budgeting and nonadditivity," Journal of Property Investment & Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 26(5), pages 388-398, August.
    21. Graham, John R. & Harvey, Campbell R., 2001. "The theory and practice of corporate finance: evidence from the field," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(2-3), pages 187-243, May.
    22. Miller, Richard A., 2009. "The weighted average cost of capital is not quite right: Reply to M. Pierru," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 1213-1218, August.
    23. Fernandez, Pablo & del Campo, Javier, 2011. "Market risk premium used in 2010 by analysts and companies: A survey with 2.400 answers," IESE Research Papers D/912, IESE Business School.
    24. Liljeblom, Eva & Vaihekoski, Mika, 2009. "Corporate ownership and managerial short-termism: Results from a Finnish study of management perceptions," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(2), pages 427-438, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Deore, Aishwarrya & Gallani, Susanna & Krishnan, Ranjani, 2023. "The effect of systems of management controls on honesty in managerial reporting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    2. Tom Rosewall & Kevin Lane, 2015. "Firms' Investment Decisions and Interest Rates," RBA Bulletin (Print copy discontinued), Reserve Bank of Australia, pages 01-08, June.
    3. Brunzell, Tor & Liljeblom, Eva & Löflund, Anders & Vaihekoski, Mika, 2014. "Dividend policy in Nordic listed firms," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 124-135.
    4. Andreas Stoller, 2022. "The Anchoring Effect In The Context Of Strategic Investment Decision Making," Economy & Business Journal, International Scientific Publications, Bulgaria, vol. 16(1), pages 210-220.
    5. Yang, Jinxi & Johansson, Daniel J.A., 2024. "Adapting to uncertainty: Modeling adaptive investment decisions in the electricity system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 358(C).
    6. Stephen Aro-Gordon, 2022. "Structural Equation Modelling Approach to Evaluating Capital Budgeting Factors in Oman ," GATR Journals jfbr203, Global Academy of Training and Research (GATR) Enterprise.
    7. Riya Sureka & Satish Kumar & Deepraj Mukherjee & Christina Theodoraki, 2023. "What restricts SMEs from adopting sophisticated capital budgeting practices?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 60(1), pages 265-290, January.
    8. Saia, Artjom & Neshumayev, Dmitri & Hazak, Aaro & Sander, Priit & Järvik, Oliver & Konist, Alar, 2022. "Techno-economic assessment of CO2 capture possibilities for oil shale power plants," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    9. Huikku, Jari & Mouritsen, Jan & Silvola, Hanna, 2017. "Relative reliability and the recognisable firm: Calculating goodwill impairment value," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 68-83.
    10. Sureka, Riya & Kumar, Satish & Colombage, Sisira & Abedin, Mohammad Zoynul, 2022. "Five decades of research on capital budgeting – A systematic review and future research agenda," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Siziba, Simiso & Hall, John Henry, 2021. "The evolution of the application of capital budgeting techniques in enterprises," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    2. Peter Markovič & Michal Šinský, 2009. "Trends in application of capital budgeting methods for investment projects evaluation," Ekonomika a Management, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2009(1).
    3. Chittenden, Francis & Derregia, Mohsen, 2015. "Uncertainty, irreversibility and the use of ‘rules of thumb’ in capital budgeting," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 225-236.
    4. Carlo Alberto Magni, 2007. "Project valuation and investment decisions: CAPM versus arbitrage," Applied Financial Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(2), pages 137-140.
    5. Andor, Gyorgy & Mohanty, Sunil K. & Toth, Tamas, 2015. "Capital budgeting practices: A survey of Central and Eastern European firms," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 148-172.
    6. Kent Baker & Shantanu Dutta & Samir Saadi, 2011. "Corporate Finance Practices in Canada: Where Do We Stand?," Multinational Finance Journal, Multinational Finance Journal, vol. 15(3-4), pages 157-192, September.
    7. Mendes-da-Silva, Wesley & Saito, Richard, 2014. "Listagem em bolsa induz sofisticação do orçamento de capital," RAE - Revista de Administração de Empresas, FGV-EAESP Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo (Brazil), vol. 54(5), September.
    8. Magni, Carlo Alberto, 2009. "Correct or incorrect application of CAPM? Correct or incorrect decisions with CAPM?," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 192(2), pages 549-560, January.
    9. Sureka, Riya & Kumar, Satish & Colombage, Sisira & Abedin, Mohammad Zoynul, 2022. "Five decades of research on capital budgeting – A systematic review and future research agenda," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    10. Magni, Carlo Alberto, 2013. "Generalized Makeham’s formula and economic profitability," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 747-756.
    11. Vasiliou, Dimitrios & Daskalakis, Nikolaos, 2009. "Institutional characteristics and capital structure: A cross-national comparison," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 286-306.
    12. Brounen, Dirk & de Jong, Abe & Koedijk, Kees, 2006. "Capital structure policies in Europe: Survey evidence," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 1409-1442, May.
    13. Horn, Anders & Kjærland, Frode & Molnár, Peter & Steen, Beate Wollen, 2015. "The use of real option theory in Scandinavia's largest companies," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 74-81.
    14. Ferrando, Annalisa & Marchica, Maria-Teresa & Mura, Roberto, 2014. "Financial flexibility across the euro area and the UK," Working Paper Series 1630, European Central Bank.
    15. Weber, Thomas A., 2014. "On the (non-)equivalence of IRR and NPV," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 25-39.
    16. Hess, Dieter & Immenkötter, Philipp, 2014. "How much is too much? Debt capacity and financial flexibility," CFR Working Papers 14-03, University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    17. Gatzer, Sebastian & Hoang, Daniel & Ruckes, Martin, 2015. "Internal Capital Markets and Diversified Firms: Theory and Practice," EconStor Preprints 169432, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    18. Guedes, José & Santos, Pedro, 2016. "Valuing an offshore oil exploration and production project through real options analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 377-386.
    19. Magni, Carlo Alberto, 2007. "Investment decisions, equivalent risk and bounded rationality," MPRA Paper 6073, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Koedijk, Kees & Mahieu, Ronald & van Toor, Joris & Horst, Jenke, 2017. "The World We Live In: Local or Global?," CEPR Discussion Papers 11831, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:acctfi:v:53:y:2013:i:1:p:85-110. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaanzea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.