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ACCA FM知识点： find the lowest WACC
文章来源：ACCA全球官网
发布时间：2021-11-26 10:45
阅读：566次
由于WACC是权益成本和债务成本之间的简单平均数，因此一个人的本能反应是询问这两个组成部分中哪一个更便宜，然后拥有更多的便宜的和较少的昂贵的，以减少两者的平均值。
What mixture of equity and debt will result in the lowest WACC?
As the WACC is a simple average between the cost of equity and the cost of debt,one’s instinctive response is to ask which of the two components is the cheaper,and then to have more of the cheap one and less of expensive one,to reduce the average of the two.
Well,the answer is that cost of debt is cheaper than cost of equity.As debt is less risky than equity,the required return needed to compensate the debt investors is less than the required return needed to compensate the equity investors.Debt is less risky than equity,as the payment of interest is often a fixed amount and compulsory in nature,and it is paid in priority to the payment of dividends,which are in fact discretionary in nature.Another reason why debt is less risky than equity is in the event of a liquidation,debt holders would receive their capital repayment before shareholders as they are higher in the creditor hierarchy(the order in which creditors get repaid),as shareholders are paid out last.
Debt is also cheaper than equity from a company’s perspective is because of the different corporate tax treatment of interest and dividends.In the profit and loss account,interest is subtracted before the tax is calculated;thus,companies get tax relief on interest.However,dividends are subtracted after the tax is calculated;therefore,companies do not get any tax relief on dividends.Thus,if interest payments are$10m and the tax rate is 30%,the cost to the company is$7m.The fact that interest is tax-deductible is a tremendous advantage.
Let us return to the question of what mixture of equity and debt will result in the lowest WACC.The instinctive and obvious response is to gear up by replacing some of the more expensive equity with the cheaper debt to reduce the average,the WACC.However,issuing more debt(ie increasing gearing),means that more interest is paid out of profits before shareholders can get paid their dividends.The increased interest payment increases the volatility of dividend payments to shareholders,because if the company has a poor year,the increased interest payments must still be paid,which may have an effect the company’s ability to pay dividends.This increase in the volatility of dividend payment to shareholders is also called an increase in the financial risk to shareholders.If the financial risk to shareholders increases,they will require a greater return to compensate them for this increased risk,thus the cost of equity will increase and this will lead to an increase in the WACC.
In summary,when trying to find the lowest WACC,you:
issue more debt to replace expensive equity;this reduces the WACC,but
more debt also increases the WACC as:
gearing
financial risk
beta equity
keg WACC
Remember that Keg is a function of beta equity which includes both business and financial risk,so as financial risk increases,beta equity increases,Keg increases and WACC increases.
The key question is which has the greater effect,the reduction in the WACC caused by having a greater amount of cheaper debt or the increase in the WACC caused by the increase in the financial risk.To answer this we have to turn to the various theories that have developed over time in relation to this topic.
相关阅读：【ACCA FM知识点：优化资本结构】
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