designation of a specific condition or combination of conditions that may arise in the decision-making process and the appropriate action to take if the conditions exist. For example, in a CAPITAL BUDGETING decision, under the NET PRESENT VALUE (NPV) METHOD, a project should be accepted if its NPV is positive. Also,under the INTERNAL RATE OF RETURN (IRR) approach, a project should be accepted if the IRR of the project exceeds the cost of capital.