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Unit of study_
CIVL2812: Project Appraisal
2025 unit information
This unit aims to introduce students to project valuations using present-value cash flow theory, taxation and probabilities, and the role of these valuations in the decision-making process. Students are taught techniques for making an analysis of issues involved in project appraisal by various methods and these are applied to businesses, non-profit organisations, and governments. At the end of this unit, students should be able to comprehend and relate to real-life examples the fundamental concepts in project appraisal (e. g. the meaning of time value for money, equivalence); calculate common financial indicators for a given project and explain the relevance of each to the appraisal of the project; rank projects by combining both financial and non-financial indicators (e. g. environmental and social); understand how risks and uncertainties affect evaluation outcomes and be able to deal with uncertainties and risks in analysis; apply techniques to account for the effects of inflation/deflation and exchange rates in analysis; understand the concept and mechanisms for depreciation and carry out pre-tax as well as post-tax analysis; understand the assumptions, pros and cons of each evaluation method and be able to explain why a particular method is appropriate/not appropriate for a given project. The syllabus covers the following concepts: time value of money, cost of capital, simple/compound interest, nominal/effective interest, cost/benefit analysis of projects; equivalence, net present worth (value), future worth (value), annual worth (value), internal rate of return, external rate of return, payback period; cost-benefit analysis, cost-utility analysis, identifying and quantifying non-financial benefits/externalities; Other influencing factors: price changes and exchange rates, depreciation, taxation; Capitalisation and valuation studies, replacement of assets, real option, project risk analysis, decision-tree analysis, WACC, MARR, equity capital, debt. This unit of study is a second-year core unit for students enrolled in Civil Engineering (any major), and is a possible elective in other schools of engineering.
Unit details and rules
Managing faculty or University school:
Engineering
| Study level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Academic unit | Civil Engineering |
| Credit points | 6 |
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Prerequisites:
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None |
|---|---|
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Corequisites:
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None |
| Prohibitions:
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CIVL3812 |
| Assumed knowledge:
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MATH1005 or MATH1062 |
At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:
- LO1. rank projects by combining both financial and non-financial indicators (e.g. environmental and social)
- LO2. comprehend and relate to real-life examples the fundamental concepts in project appraisal (e.g. the meaning of time value for money, equivalence)
- LO3. calculate common financial indicators for a given project and explain the relevance of each to the appraisal of the project
- LO4. understand how risks and uncertainties affect evaluation outcomes and be able to deal with uncertainties and risks in analysis
- LO5. apply techniques to account for the effects of inflation/deflation and exchange rates in analysis
- LO6. understand the concept and mechanisms for depreciation and carry out pre-tax as well as post-tax analysis
- LO7. understand the basic concepts in financing and be able to carry out basic financing analysis
- LO8. understand the assumptions, pros and cons of each cash flow evaluation method and able to explain why a particular method is appropriate/not appropriate for a given project
- LO9. understand the challenges of multiattributed decision-making and able to apply an appropriate model to a given project for effective decision making.
Unit availability
This section lists the session, attendance modes and locations the unit is available in. There is a unit outline for each of the unit availabilities, which gives you information about the unit including assessment details and a schedule of weekly activities.
The outline is published 2 weeks before the first day of teaching. You can look at previous outlines for a guide to the details of a unit.
| Session | MoA ? | Location | Outline ? |
|---|---|---|---|
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Semester 2 2025
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Normal day | Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney |
Outline unavailable
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Modes of attendance (MoA)
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