Which of the following does NOT account for the time value of money?

The payback period is a method used to assess the amount of time required to recover an investment. It calculates how long it will take for the cash inflows from a project to repay the initial investment cost. This method focuses solely on the time required for an investment to return its original cash outlay and does not take into account the timing of cash flows beyond the point of recovering the initial cost.

In contrast, methods like net present value, discounted cash flow, and internal rate of return explicitly incorporate the concept of time value of money. They recognize that money has a time-associated value, meaning that a dollar received today is worth more than a dollar received in the future due to its potential earning capacity over time. Therefore, payback period stands out as it does not factor in these financial principles, making it the correct answer for the question regarding which method does not account for the time value of money.