The internal rate of return (IRR) is widely used in Private Finance Initiative (PFI) schemes in the UK for measuring performance. However, it is well-known that the IRR may be a misleading indicator of economic profitability. Treasury Guidance (2004) recognizes that the IRR should not be used...

The Index Comparison Method (ICM) is a well-known approach for measuring a Private Equity Investment's (PEI) performance. It is based on the construction of a benchmark portfolio that, each period, earns the index return. This generates a time series of interim net asset values that leads to a...

The recent notion of Average Internal Rate of Return (AIRR) [Magni 2010, The Engineering Economist, 55(2), 150-180] completely solves the long-standing problem of the internal rate of return (IRR). While the AIRR is a return measure, this paper presents a cash-flow measure, namely the ratio of...

This paper analyzes the net-present-value (NPV) model, a keystone in economics: Behaviors and lines of reasoning of NPV-minded decision makers are observed and analyzed. As a result, one finds out that the NPV methodology is biased and its decision makers fall prey to various forms of fallacies...

The internal rate of return (IRR) is often used by managers and practitioners for investment decisions. Unfortunately, it has serious flaws: among others, (i) multiple real-valued IRRs may arise, (ii) complex-valued IRRs may arise, (iii) the IRR is, in general, incompatible with the net present...

This paper presents a theoretical framework for valuation, investment decisions, and performance measurement based on a nonstandard theory of residual income. It is derived from the notion of “unrecovered” capital, which is here named “lost” capital because it represents the capital...

This note specifies some results found in [Magni 2010. The Engineering Economists, 55(2), 150-180] where the Average Internal Rate of Return (AIRR) is presented, which overcome all the IRR difficulties. In particular, the AIRR approach enables to prove that (1) a project is not uniquely...

This paper shows that the Internal-Rate-of-Return (IRR) approach is unreliable, and that the recently introduced Average-Internal-Rate-of-Return (AIRR) model constitutes the basis for an alternative theoretical paradigm of rate of return. To this end, we divide the paper into two parts: a pars...

This paper introduces new money-weighted metrics for investment performance analysis, based on arithmetic means of holding period rates weighted by the investment's market values. This approach generates rates of return which measure a fund's or portfolio's performance and a fund manager's...

Discounted cash flows methods such as Net Present Value and Internal Rate of Return are often used interchangeably or even together for assessing value creation in industrial and engineering projects. Notwithstanding its difficulties of applicability and reliability, the internal rate of return...