To increase productive capacity, a company is considering a proposed new plant. Which of the following statements is CORRECT? a. When estimating the project's operating cash flows, it is important to include both opportunity costs and sunk costs, but the firm should ignore the cash flow effects of externalities since they are accounted for in the discounting process. b. Since depreciation is a non-cash expense, the firm does not need to deal with depreciation when calculating the operating cash flows. c. The cost of capital used to discount cash flows in a capital budgeting analysis should be calculated on a before-tax basis. d. Capital budgeting decisions should be based on before-tax cash flows. e. In calculating the project's operating cash flows, the firm should not deduct financing costs such as interest expense, because financing costs are accounted for by discounting at the cost of capital. If interest were deducted when estimating cash flows, this would, in effect, "double count" it.

e. In calculating the project's operating cash flows, the firm should not deduct financing costs such as interest expense, because financing costs are accounted for by discounting at the cost of capital. If interest were deducted when estimating cash flows, this would, in effect, "double count" it.

Explanation:

Weighted average cost of capital (WACC) is a calculation that takes into consideration all cost associated with capital obtained to finance a company.

This also includes cost such as interest expense.

In the given scenario when calculating the project's operating cash flow it is important to exclude such financing costs since they have been considered in the WACC calculation.

It will be a double deduction if it is considered again in operating cash flow calculation.