单选题 The increase in inventory required due to a new capital budgeting project implementation would be classified as a: A. cost (negative cash flow) at time zero. B. benefit (positive cash flow) at time zero. C. cost (negative cash flow) in each year the firm needs the increased inventory.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】An increase in inventory due to the acceptance of a capital project represents a change in net working capital, which is a component of the projects initial cash outflow.