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Corporate finance

Working capital management Cash conversion cycle Return on capital Economic value added Just In Time Economic order quantity Discounts and allowances Factoring (finance)

Capital budgeting Capital investment decisions The investment decision The financing decision

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In economics, return on capital, also known as return on invested capital, is a financial measure that quantifies how well a company generates cash flow relative to the capital it has invested in its business. It is defined as Net operating profit less adjusted taxes divided by invested capital and is usually expressed as a percentage. In this calculation, capital invested includes all monetary capital invested: shareholders' equity plus financial debt.

When the return on capital is greater than the cost of capital (usually measured as the weighted average cost of capital), the company is creating value; when it is less than the cost of capital, value is destroyed.

Note that the numerator in the ROC fraction does not subtract interest expense.

Return on Invested Capital (ROIC) can be computed as:

• ROIC = (Net Operating Profit − Taxes) / (Total Capital)

See also

• Cash flow return on investment (CFROI)
• Cash return on gross investment (CROGI)
• Profitability
• Rate of profit
• Tendency of the rate of profit to fall
• Return on assets (ROA)
• Return on equity (ROE)
• Return on capital employed (ROCE)
• Return on investment (ROI)
• Return on net assets (RONA)
• Return on revenue (ROR), also Return on sales (ROS)
• Risk adjusted return on capital (RAROC)

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