Help me critique and add two points to this post: Explain how Heartland could benefit from the net present value (NPV) method and the internal rate-of-return (IRR) method. The net present value (NPV) method uses the required rate of return to discount all expected future cash inflows and outflows back to the present in order to calculate the expected monetary gain or loss from a project (Datar & Rajan, 2018). The internal rate-of-return (IRR) method provides the discount rate at which an investment's present value of cash inflows equals the present value of cash outflows (Datar & Rajan, 2018). One benefit to Heartland for using the NPV method is that it takes into account the time value of money, the fact that a dollar today is worth more than a dollar in the future, which will discount the future cash flows for Heartland accordingly (Nasdaq, 2015). Another benefit of the NPV method is that it tells Heartland whether an investment will create value for the company (Nasdaq, 2015). A final advantage of the NPV method is that it takes into consideration the cost of capital and the risks involves with making future predictions (Nasdaq, 2015). One benefit of the IRR method is that it also acknowledges the time value of money (Lanctot, 2019). Another advantage is that it is simple to use and understand, and that it does not require a hurdle rate (Lanctot, 2019). What are the main shortcomings of the NPV and IRR methods? The biggest shortcoming of the NPV method is that it requires guesswork about the cost of capital (Nasdaq, 2015). Another disadvantage of the NPV method is that it isn't useful for comparing projects of different sizes (Nasdaq, 2015). One disadvantage to the IRR method is that it ignores the size of the project causing comparability to be problematic (Lanctot, 2019). Other disadvantage of the IRR method include the following: ignores future costs, and ignores reinvestment rates (Lanctot, 2019). Explain the payback method and describe the difference between uniform and nonuniform cash flows. The payback method calculates the amount of time it will take to recoup via cash flows the net investment in a project (Datar & Rajan, 2018). Payback methods can include those with uniform cash flows, and those with nonuniform cash flows. With uniform cash flow agreements, all installments are paid back in equal increments over the life of the payback period. With nonuniform cash flow agreements, the payback computation takes a cumulative form therefore the cash flow over successive years are accumulated until the amount of the initial investment is recovered (Datar & Rajan, 2018)