The certainty-equivalent approach recognizes risk in capital budgeting analysis by adjusting estimated cash flows and employs risk-free rate to discount the adjusted cash flows. On the other hand, the risk-adjusted discount rate adjusts for risk by adjusting the discount rate. It has been suggested that the certainty equivalent approach is theoretically a superior technique over the risk-adjusted discount approach because it can measure risk more accurately.

The risk-adjusted discount rate approach will yield the same result as the certainty-equivalent approach if the risk-free rate is constant and the risk-adjusted discount rate is the same for all future periods.