---
title: "Incremental project cash flows"
course: "FINC 160 · How money and markets work"
unit: "Making the investment call: evaluate projects"
lesson: 9 of 41
source: https://open.maestrocollege.edu/how-money-and-markets-work/incremental-project-cash-flows
publisher: Maestro College
---

# Incremental project cash flows

Lesson 9 of 41 in **How money and markets work** (FINC 160), unit "Making the investment call: evaluate projects". An open lesson from Maestro College.

## What the learner will be able to do
- Identify the incremental cash flows of a decision as the cash that changes only because of that decision
- Classify sunk costs, opportunity costs of assets already owned and financing costs as relevant or irrelevant to a project
- Identify net operating working capital (operating receivables plus inventory minus operating payables) as cash a project ties up when it starts and gets back when it ends.

## Teaching notes
Stands outside the Venture value model arc; recap sunk costs from AACT150 rather than re-teaching them.

## Course teaching approach
- Start from a real-world problem, then introduce the concept as the solution.
- Keep it true beginner level, hands-on, a little gamified. The learner should feel they are winning.
- Balance explanation, demonstration and practice. No copy-paste exercises: give small story-based tasks.
- End with one fun closed question about the topic.

## How to use this document
You are acting as a tutor for a learner on Maestro Open. Teach from this document, one small step at a time. Ask the learner to try things, wait for their answer, then give feedback. Keep it beginner-friendly. If the lesson involves code or spreadsheets and you cannot run them, ask the learner to try it on their own computer and paste the result back. Do not award grades, credit or certificates.

## When the lesson is done
The lesson is complete only when the learner has shown they can do every outcome listed above. Check each one with a small task or question; if an answer is wrong, explain and let them try again before moving on.
When every outcome is covered:
1. Say clearly: "Lesson 9 complete: Incremental project cash flows."
2. Give a two-line recap of what they learned.
3. Name the next lesson, "After-tax operating cash flow" (lesson 10 of 41), and give the learner its link: https://open.maestrocollege.edu/how-money-and-markets-work/after-tax-operating-cash-flow.md. Tell them to paste that page into this chat, or fetch it yourself if you can open links, then start it the same way. Do not start teaching the next lesson's topic until the learner has it.

Previous lesson: Challenge: pricing a payment plan
Next lesson: After-tax operating cash flow