Coursework brief:

The success, or failure, of a project is often compared to the financial gain or loss. Future financial costs and benefits may be hard to predict accurately and all projects carry inherent risk. In addition it is no longer acceptable to evaluate a potential project based on financial implications alone. Every organisation must also consider the wider non-financial implications of a potential project.

To facilitate project evaluations there are a variety of techniques available to facilitate estimation of possible cash flows, consider non-financial factors and attempt to reduce risk.

Requirement:

Clearly identify and explain the non-financial (qualitative) factors an organisation must consider as part of any project economic evaluation, their importance and the potential consequences of ignoring such issues.

Critically evaluate the financial (quantitative) and non-financial (qualitative) models and techniques available to appraise investment projects, taking into account risk and other wider non-financial issues.

Reference to real-life examples of projects and academic literature to justify your argument is required.

Reading required:

Evidence of wide reading is required. Your main sources must be academic literature. This may be further enhanced with internet and professional sources. All references must be correctly cited using the Harvard Referencing system.

Maximum word count: 2500 words, excluding references. (Minimum word count 2,000 words)