The document discusses why net present value (NPV) is a better method for evaluating investment decisions than other criteria such as internal rate of return (IRR) and payback period. It explains that NPV recognizes the time value of money by discounting all future cash flows to their present value. It also allows for comparing projects of different sizes by being measured in the same units. In contrast, other methods like IRR and payback period do not properly account for the timing of cash flows and can sometimes select inferior projects.