The document discusses and compares three methods for evaluating investment proposals: payback period (PBP), accounting rate of return (ARR), and net present value (NPV). PBP compares the time to recover initial costs to a predetermined period, but ignores cash flows after that. ARR compares profit percentage to a required rate of return but ignores time value of money. NPV accepts proposals with positive net present value and rejects negative, taking into account full cash flows and time value of money, but is more difficult to calculate and understand.