IMPROVING THE SYSTEM OF CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING INVESTMENT PROJECTS AT ENTERPRISES: INTEGRATING FINANCIAL AND NON-FINANCIAL CRITERIA
Keywords:
investment project, evaluation criteria, financial criteria, non-financial criteria, NPV, IRR, PI, DPP, DSCR, strategic efficiency, ESG, multi-criteria assessment, integrated index, IIPEI.Abstract
This article examines theoretical and methodological directions for improving the system of criteria used to evaluate investment projects at enterprises. The purpose of the study is to systematize financial and non-financial criteria and to develop an approach for integrating them into a unified investment decision-making model. The methodological framework combines systems and comparative analysis, abstract-logical reasoning, discounted cash-flow analysis, multi-criteria assessment, expert evaluation, and indicator normalization. The study demonstrates that conventional appraisal based mainly on NPV, IRR, PI, DPP and DSCR does not fully capture the strategic, technological, environmental, social and governance effects of an investment project. A six-component integrated model is proposed, comprising financial efficiency, risk resilience, strategic fit, technological and innovation potential, environmental and social effectiveness, and the quality of corporate and institutional governance. On this basis, an Integrated Investment Project Evaluation Index (IIPEI) is formulated by normalizing heterogeneous indicators and aggregating them with appropriate weights. The practical value of the proposed approach lies in enabling comprehensive comparison of alternative projects, strengthening the justification of investment decisions and improving the allocation of capital resources. The proposed threshold values are methodological benchmarks and should be empirically calibrated using data from real enterprises.
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