Capital budgeting is a process of evaluating investments and huge expenses in order to obtain the best returns on investment.
An organization is often faced with the challenges of selecting between two projects/investments or the buy vs replace
decision. Ideally, an organization would like to invest in all
profitable projects but due to the limitation on the availability of
capital an organization has to choose between different
projects/investments. Capital budgeting as a concept affects our daily
lives.
Let’s look at an
example- Your mobile phone has stopped working! Now, you have two
choices: Either buy a new one or get the same mobile repaired. Here, you
may conclude that the costs of repairing the mobile increases the life
of the phone. However, there could be a possibility that the cost to buy
a new cell phone would be lesser than its repair costs. So, you decide
to replace your cell phone and you proceed to look at different phones
that fit your budget!