Capital Expenditures – Definition, Overview and Examples

Imagine you are at an airport. Try looking closely at the aerodrome area where your aircraft is parked for departure. Those airlines must spend millions to maintain such large aircraft, upgrade technologies and buy passenger buses with growing demand every year. Depending on the model, even an outdated commercial aeroplane can easily cost a few million in maintenance. The investments put into these long-term assets by the airline companies for purchase and upgradation to improve the efficiency of the airline company is basically what we call capital expenditure. Let’s look into more details.

What are Capital Expenditures?

By definition, capital expenditures (also known as CapEx or capital expenses) are large investments in long-term assets that businesses undertake to sustain or grow their operations, such as buildings, machinery, pieces of equipment, land, furnishings and fittings.

Capital expenditures significantly impact the financial position of an organization both in the short and long term. Making informed CapEx decisions is therefore crucial for a company’s financial stability. 

Types of Capital Expenditures

A capital expense might be either tangible such as a machine—or intangible—like a patent. 

The expenditure made by the company in either of the below 4 areas is generally categorized as a capital expenditure. 

Expenditure on Diversification

Some expenses are made in order to expand the company’s offerings and attain multiple goals.

Expenditure on Expansion

The completion of new projects or the expansion of the existing asset base that aids in boosting production capacity

Expenditure on Replacement

Outdated machinery and equipment that needs to be replaced due to deterioration, ageing, and technological advancement.

Making Strategic Investments

Decisions about strategic investments lead to the purchase of assets like land, property, etc. That will assist the company in the long run.

Importance of Capital Expenditures

For instance, you operate a local food cafe and you want to start a delivery system with the profits you gained in a year. Would you buy a new van, rent out one or hire a contract delivery service? Your decision should be smart enough to make your business grow, develop reach to a greater number of potential customers and generate profit.  

Smart capital investments support business expansion. From the standpoint of long-term financial planning, CapEx analysis helps decision-makers in determining if an asset will deliver a good rate of return. 

Some other important considerations are:

Long-term effects

Effects of CapEx continue for an ample amount of time. A business’s ease of operation now could be due to previous CapEx. 

High fixed cost

While spending on fixed assets may be costly at first, there are significant potential long-term benefits for businesses or organizations.

Depreciation 

CapEx leads to an increase in the asset account. This result is a rise in depreciation once the capital assets are used. Hence, the value of the capital asset decreases and the company gains tax advantages as well.

Business Valuation

CapEx is a significant factor in business valuation and evaluating the new worth of the entity. The valuation of the existing capital assets is crucial in cases of business sales, merger and acquisition agreements, etc.

Challenges with Capital Expenditures

Despite the importance of capital expenditure decisions, some capital expenses may add to the complexity. Here are some challenges:

Unpredictability

Large capital asset investments by businesses with the aim to increase profitability may sometimes result in losses, as some outcomes aren’t always assured. Even though it is impossible to completely remove risk, companies must account for it during financial planning to reduce the possibility of losses.

Temporal Expansion

Both industrial undertakings and infrastructure projects often spread out the expenses and benefits of capital expenditure over a considerable amount of time. A temporal gap of this magnitude makes it difficult to estimate the discount rate and establish equivalence.

Issues with measurement

Identifying, quantifying, and predicting the expenses associated with capital expenditures can be a challenging accounting process.

Efficient Capital Expenditure Budgeting Practices

Budgeting for capital expenditures is a key management task. Making the right choices might help the firm reach new heights. However, given the sum of money at stake and the length of these initiatives, one bad decision might push the company to close down. Here are a few techniques:

Create a Plan Before You Begin

Finding the project’s scope, setting reasonable timelines, and making sure the entire plan has been reviewed and authorized are necessary before beginning a project. You should consider how many internal resources, such as labor, supplies, money, and services, the project will need.

Think long-term

You must decide whether you will borrow money to buy the capital asset or set aside cash reserves to make a purchase. Typically, saving money for a purchase means that you will have to wait a while before receiving the asset you want. However, taking on debt and risking future borrowing issues are both consequences of borrowing money.

Both options may benefit your business in the long run. You just need to decide which option is better for which project.

Gather Accurate Data

You need to obtain credible information in order to develop the budget and produce reports.

Use effective budgeting tools

The kind of budgeting software you choose should be based on factors including the project’s scope, the program’s speed, and the likelihood of mistakes.

Form Clear Policies

A big firm may have a significant number of people and departments involved in managing capital expenditures, thus it is important to establish clear policies that everyone can adhere to in order to keep the budget on track.

Levels of Details Should Be Optimal

A budget that is made with too much detail may take too long to create and, by the time it is finished, it may contain information that is no longer relevant. So, an ideal balance is necessary.

Capital Expenditures Example

Before looking into the example, let’s check out the formula to calculate CapEx:

CapEx = PPE (current period) – PPE (prior period) + Depreciation (current period)

where, PPE is Property, Plant & Equipment.

You own a coffee shop, and you recently purchased a new coffee maker, some furnishings, and a new computer. All this is done to boost sales for the coming year.

The information required to determine CapEx for that year, after looking at the balance sheet and income statement, is as follows:

At the start of 2019, PPE was $10,000 and by the end, it was PPE: $20,000. Depreciation: $5,500

CapEx = $ [(20,000 – 10,000) + 5,500]

            = $ 15,500

Hence, the capital expenditure = $15,500.

Wrap Up

Capital expenditures help businesses to acquire, maintain, or enhance assets. It can be either a tangible asset like a machine or an intangible asset like a patent. Capital expenditures might be categorized as (1) costs to maintain current levels of operation inside the organization and (2) costs to support increased future growth. CapEx analysis helps decision-makers decide if an asset will generate a good rate of return from the perspective of long-term financial planning. Since its rate of return might be unpredictable, having an effective CapEx budget is an ideal solution for every company.

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *