INVESTMENT AND BUSINESS ACCOUNTANTS

Investment appraisal is not all about financial factors. There are non-financial factors that plays significant role in making any meaningful investment decision.

In fact, most of those non-financial factors act as backbone that will either make or mare the investment if taken.

Below are some of those non-financial factors:

• Climatic Issues. Green activities has recently gained popularity to the extent that companies not investing in equipment that preserve the environment are seen as a non responsive and irresponsible by the public who will in turn become customers later. In order for companies to preserve this benefit, it some times has to invest in some projects that are not too financially sound.

• Staff Motivation. The effect of an investment on the motivation of staff should be considered before furthering in the investment process.

• Backend profit/sales. Another non-financial factor to consider is the backend sales that will come to the company as a result of investing in some non profitable projects. This will act as a bait to bring in customer that may eventually see another product that they may like.

• Customers’ satisfaction. The satisfaction that the customers will get from an investment is a non-financial factor to consider before making any investment. After all, customers are always the king.

• Availability of manpower. The company needs to make sure that there is enough manpower to operate the equipment to be invested in.

• Government regulation. This is an obvious but the most neglected aspect of investment appraisal. There is need to consider the government relevant laws before making investment appraisal.

• Competitors’ action. There is need to consider the action of your competitors before making investment decisions. This will in most cases lead to companies making investments that are not purely based on financial grounds.

• Trend (present and potential). The trend is your friend is a popular saying amongst financial professionals. You consider the trend before making an investment in a project to see if there is potential in the proposed project.

Non-financial factors or criteria have never been so important in investment decision as it is in today’s world where there is so much uncertainty especially in finance. Hence, the need to take them serious.

If you have further question to ask, just post your question to this forum for further clarification.