OPS.14:4.3 - Build the incremental financial comparison

For each alternative, identify future payments and receipts that differ because of the choice. State amount, time and the condition that produces the flow. The same unchanged amount in both alternatives cancels in their difference; keep it elsewhere if the receiving account needs the whole operation’s cash position.

Inspect avoidability. A historical payment is not saved by declining future work. An allocated share of rent may remain unchanged, whereas an additional contracted shift or per-use charge can be avoidable. A cost that is fixed this week can become avoidable at a later renewal, so use the decision’s actual horizon.

Include displaced use when it is real. Identify the best relevant foregone alternative and its consequence, or state the qualified premise that no material contribution is displaced. Count that loss once. If the cash comparison already includes the missing receipts and avoided costs of displaced work, do not subtract the same foregone contribution again as an extra opportunity cost.

Connect receipts to demand, delivered service, acceptance and payment conditions. Consider the adverse cases that can change the choice: repeat work, delayed acceptance, nonpayment or a lost resource window. A claimed receipt needs its stated basis even when its arithmetic is simple.