Decision methods for capital projects by small companies

The graphs below were created using Google’s graphing tools.

The first bar graph shows four broad categories of capital expenditures and how many of the surveyed companies indicated the category as being their largest capital expenditure during the previous 12 months.

The second bar graph shows the percentage of surveyed companies using one of three planning methods for making capital decisions.

The data in the graphs are based on a Gallup Organization survey of more than 750 small companies for the National Federation of Independent Business Research Foundation.  The results of the survey are found in a 2006 report written by Morris Danielson and Jonathan Scott.  Small companies surveyed have fewer than 250 employees.  The report can be read by clicking here (PDF file).

The data in the graph and in the report should be useful to small company decision-making related to capital projects.