Accounting Rate of Return

algorave acid jazz, dreamy acoustic rock, bubblegum bass · 4:01

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Lyrics

[Verse 1]
Picture quarterly statements stacked like autumn leaves
Profits gleaming gold beneath accounting trees
Take the average earnings from your project's reign
Divide by initial investment, watch the percentage gain
ARR whispers simple truths in boardroom halls
But beware the siren song when cash flow calls

[Chorus]
Average profit over initial cost
ARR shows what accounting found, but timing's lost
Depreciation games can twist the tale
While cash sits waiting, profits might just fail
Calculate, appreciate, but don't be blind
ARR's just one piece of the financial mind

[Verse 2]
Machine costs fifty thousand, saves ten each year
Depreciation magic makes five thousand disappear
Net profit sits at five, divide by fifty base
Ten percent return emerges, wearing accounting's face
But when will cash arrive? ARR stays silent here
Real money flows like rivers, not like crystal clear

[Chorus]
Average profit over initial cost
ARR shows what accounting found, but timing's lost
Depreciation games can twist the tale
While cash sits waiting, profits might just fail
Calculate, appreciate, but don't be blind
ARR's just one piece of the financial mind

[Bridge]
NPV counts tomorrow's dollars today
IRR finds the rate where values fade away
Payback tells you when investment breaks even clean
But ARR ignores the clock, stays trapped between
Accounting rules and economic truth collide
When book profits dance but cash wants to hide

[Verse 3]
Benchmark ARR against your hurdle rate
If fifteen percent's your bar, ten won't celebrate
Compare competing projects, rank them high to low
But remember book income isn't cash flow's glow
Residual values, working capital shifts
ARR pretends these phantoms don't exist

[Chorus]
Average profit over initial cost
ARR shows what accounting found, but timing's lost
Depreciation games can twist the tale
While cash sits waiting, profits might just fail
Calculate, appreciate, but don't be blind
ARR's just one piece of the financial mind

[Outro]
Simple math meets complex truth
ARR's the veteran, DCF's the youth
Use them both to paint complete
Financial pictures, bitter-sweet

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