Which of the following effects will decrease the amount of financial leverage in the firm? In each case, assume that all other activity in the firm does not change. A shift of $100 from cash to inventory. A decrease in the firm's retained earnings account. A new equity issue. The use of inventory to increase cash. A 2 for 1 stock split. QUESTION 7 What do we call the replication of the corporate leverage decision by borrowing on one's own account? Financial engineering The M\&M principles Operating leverage Homemade leverage Offsetting leverage. QUESTION 8 Consider a standard capital budgeting project. Which of the following statements would indicate that this project's NPV is equal to zero? The project has a short payback period The total sum of the benefits is equal to the total sum of the costs The present value of benefits is greater than the present value of costs The project's IRR is equal to zero The profitability index is equal to one