A Scorecard to Detect Financial Leverage Profitability

This study investigates how balancing internal and external financing sources can create economic value. We set a financial scorecard, consisting of the Cost of Debt (COD), Return on Investment (ROI), and the Cost of Equity (COE). We show that COE should be a cap for COD and a floor for ROI in order to increase the Net Present Value at Weighted Average Cost of Capital and the Adjusted Present Value of the levered investment. However, leverage should be carefully monitored if COD and ROI go off the grid. Situations where leverage has the opposite effect on value creation and the Equity Internal Rate of Return are also discussed. Illustrative examples are given. The proposed model aims to help corporate management in financial decisions.