diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPass.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPass.java
index 7807a23..74a0b1d 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPass.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPass.java
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 public abstract class IPAPass 
 {
 	protected static final Log LOG = LogFactory.getLog(IPAPass.class.getName());
-    
+
 	/**
 	 * Indicates if an IPA pass is applicable for the current
 	 * configuration such as global flags or the chosen execution 
@@ -47,6 +47,8 @@
 	 * @param prog dml program
 	 * @param fgraph function call graph
 	 * @param fcallSizes function call size infos
+	 * @return true if function call graph should be rebuild
 	 */
-	public abstract void rewriteProgram( DMLProgram prog, FunctionCallGraph fgraph, FunctionCallSizeInfo fcallSizes );
+	public abstract boolean rewriteProgram( DMLProgram prog,
+		FunctionCallGraph fgraph, FunctionCallSizeInfo fcallSizes );
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassApplyStaticAndDynamicHopRewrites.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassApplyStaticAndDynamicHopRewrites.java
index c00b73e..fdd8af0 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassApplyStaticAndDynamicHopRewrites.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassApplyStaticAndDynamicHopRewrites.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 
 
 import org.apache.sysds.hops.HopsException;
+import org.apache.sysds.hops.rewrite.ProgramRewriteStatus;
 import org.apache.sysds.hops.rewrite.ProgramRewriter;
 import org.apache.sysds.hops.rewrite.RewriteInjectSparkLoopCheckpointing;
 import org.apache.sysds.parser.DMLProgram;
@@ -42,17 +43,22 @@
 	}
 	
 	@Override
-	public void rewriteProgram( DMLProgram prog, FunctionCallGraph fgraph, FunctionCallSizeInfo fcallSizes ) {
+	public boolean rewriteProgram( DMLProgram prog, FunctionCallGraph fgraph, FunctionCallSizeInfo fcallSizes ) {
 		try {
-			//construct rewriter w/o checkpoint injection to avoid redundancy
+			// construct rewriter w/o checkpoint injection to avoid redundancy
 			ProgramRewriter rewriter = new ProgramRewriter(
 				InterProceduralAnalysis.APPLY_STATIC_REWRITES,
 				InterProceduralAnalysis.APPLY_DYNAMIC_REWRITES);
 			rewriter.removeStatementBlockRewrite(RewriteInjectSparkLoopCheckpointing.class);
 			
-			//rewrite program hop dags and statement blocks
-			rewriter.rewriteProgramHopDAGs(prog, true); //rewrite and split
-		} 
+			// rewrite program hop dags and statement blocks
+			ProgramRewriteStatus status = new ProgramRewriteStatus();
+			rewriter.rewriteProgramHopDAGs(prog, true, status); //rewrite and split
+			// in case of removed branches entire function calls might have been eliminated,
+			// accordingly, we should rebuild the function call graph to allow for inlining
+			// even large functions, and avoid restrictions of scalar/size propagation
+			return status.getRemovedBranches();
+		}
 		catch (LanguageException ex) {
 			throw new HopsException(ex);
 		}
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassEliminateDeadCode.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassEliminateDeadCode.java
index 043c4b2..b3aae5e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassEliminateDeadCode.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassEliminateDeadCode.java
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@
 	}
 	
 	@Override
-	public void rewriteProgram( DMLProgram prog, FunctionCallGraph fgraph, FunctionCallSizeInfo fcallSizes ) {
+	public boolean rewriteProgram( DMLProgram prog, FunctionCallGraph fgraph, FunctionCallSizeInfo fcallSizes ) {
 		// step 1: backwards pass over main program to track used and remove unused vars
 		findAndRemoveDeadCode(prog.getStatementBlocks(), new HashSet<>(), fgraph);
 		
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@
 			// backward pass over function to track used and remove unused vars
 			findAndRemoveDeadCode(fstmt.getBody(), usedVars, fgraph);
 		}
+		return false;
 	}
 	
 	private static void findAndRemoveDeadCode(List<StatementBlock> sbs, Set<String> usedVars, FunctionCallGraph fgraph) {
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassFlagFunctionsRecompileOnce.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassFlagFunctionsRecompileOnce.java
index c0cf6c7..b6351ba 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassFlagFunctionsRecompileOnce.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassFlagFunctionsRecompileOnce.java
@@ -53,10 +53,10 @@
 	}
 	
 	@Override
-	public void rewriteProgram( DMLProgram prog, FunctionCallGraph fgraph, FunctionCallSizeInfo fcallSizes ) 
+	public boolean rewriteProgram( DMLProgram prog, FunctionCallGraph fgraph, FunctionCallSizeInfo fcallSizes ) 
 	{
 		if( !ConfigurationManager.isDynamicRecompilation() )
-			return;
+			return false;
 		
 		try {
 			// flag applicable functions for recompile-once, note that this IPA pass
@@ -82,6 +82,7 @@
 		catch( LanguageException ex ) {
 			throw new HopsException(ex);
 		}
+		return false;
 	}
 	
 	/**
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassFlagNonDeterminism.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassFlagNonDeterminism.java
index a000096..6275f10 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassFlagNonDeterminism.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassFlagNonDeterminism.java
@@ -48,10 +48,10 @@
 	}
 
 	@Override
-	public void rewriteProgram (DMLProgram prog, FunctionCallGraph fgraph, FunctionCallSizeInfo fcallSizes) 
+	public boolean rewriteProgram (DMLProgram prog, FunctionCallGraph fgraph, FunctionCallSizeInfo fcallSizes) 
 	{
 		if (!LineageCacheConfig.isMultiLevelReuse())
-			return;
+			return false;
 		
 		try {
 			// Find the individual functions and statementblocks with non-determinism.
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@
 		catch( LanguageException ex ) {
 			throw new HopsException(ex);
 		}
+		return false;
 	}
 
 	private boolean rIsNonDeterministicFnc (String fname, ArrayList<StatementBlock> sbs) 
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassForwardFunctionCalls.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassForwardFunctionCalls.java
index 1605524..8b57742 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassForwardFunctionCalls.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassForwardFunctionCalls.java
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@
 	}
 	
 	@Override
-	public void rewriteProgram( DMLProgram prog, FunctionCallGraph fgraph, FunctionCallSizeInfo fcallSizes ) 
+	public boolean rewriteProgram( DMLProgram prog, FunctionCallGraph fgraph, FunctionCallSizeInfo fcallSizes ) 
 	{
 		for( String fkey : fgraph.getReachableFunctions() ) {
 			FunctionStatementBlock fsb = prog.getFunctionStatementBlock(fkey);
@@ -87,6 +87,7 @@
 						+ fkey +"' with '"+call2.getFunctionKey()+"'");
 			}
 		}
+		return false;
 	}
 	
 	private static boolean singleFunctionOp(ArrayList<Hop> hops) {
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassInlineFunctions.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassInlineFunctions.java
index 8c89689..3a465db 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassInlineFunctions.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassInlineFunctions.java
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@
 	}
 	
 	@Override
-	public void rewriteProgram( DMLProgram prog, FunctionCallGraph fgraph, FunctionCallSizeInfo fcallSizes ) 
+	public boolean rewriteProgram( DMLProgram prog, FunctionCallGraph fgraph, FunctionCallSizeInfo fcallSizes ) 
 	{
 		//NOTE: we inline single-statement-block (i.e., last-level block) functions
 		//that do not contain other functions, and either are small or called once
@@ -133,6 +133,7 @@
 				}
 			}
 		}
+		return false;
 	}
 	
 	private static boolean containsFunctionOp(ArrayList<Hop> hops) {
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassPropagateReplaceLiterals.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassPropagateReplaceLiterals.java
index d9eac84..0f33a45 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassPropagateReplaceLiterals.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassPropagateReplaceLiterals.java
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@
 	}
 	
 	@Override
-	public void rewriteProgram( DMLProgram prog, FunctionCallGraph fgraph, FunctionCallSizeInfo fcallSizes ) 
+	public boolean rewriteProgram( DMLProgram prog, FunctionCallGraph fgraph, FunctionCallSizeInfo fcallSizes ) 
 	{
 		//step 1: propagate final literals across main program
 		rReplaceLiterals(prog.getStatementBlocks(), prog, fgraph, fcallSizes);
@@ -93,6 +93,7 @@
 				rReplaceLiterals(fstmt.getBody(), prog, fgraph, fcallSizes);
 			}
 		}
+		return false;
 	}
 	
 	private void rReplaceLiterals(List<StatementBlock> sbs, DMLProgram prog, FunctionCallGraph fgraph, FunctionCallSizeInfo fcallSizes) {
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassRemoveConstantBinaryOps.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassRemoveConstantBinaryOps.java
index 606c677..ffb7d68 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassRemoveConstantBinaryOps.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassRemoveConstantBinaryOps.java
@@ -56,13 +56,12 @@
 	}
 	
 	@Override
-	public void rewriteProgram( DMLProgram prog, FunctionCallGraph fgraph, FunctionCallSizeInfo fcallSizes ) {
+	public boolean rewriteProgram( DMLProgram prog, FunctionCallGraph fgraph, FunctionCallSizeInfo fcallSizes ) {
 		//approach: scan over top-level program (guaranteed to be unconditional),
 		//collect ones=matrix(1,...); remove b(*)ones if not outer operation
 		HashMap<String, Hop> mOnes = new HashMap<>();
 		
-		for( StatementBlock sb : prog.getStatementBlocks() ) 
-		{
+		for( StatementBlock sb : prog.getStatementBlocks() )  {
 			//pruning updated variables
 			for( String var : sb.variablesUpdated().getVariableNames() )
 				if( mOnes.containsKey( var ) )
@@ -79,6 +78,7 @@
 				collectMatrixOfOnes(sb.getHops(), mOnes);
 			}
 		}
+		return false;
 	}
 	
 	private static void collectMatrixOfOnes(ArrayList<Hop> roots, HashMap<String,Hop> mOnes)
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassRemoveUnnecessaryCheckpoints.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassRemoveUnnecessaryCheckpoints.java
index 351d099..c78aac6 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassRemoveUnnecessaryCheckpoints.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassRemoveUnnecessaryCheckpoints.java
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@
 	}
 	
 	@Override
-	public void rewriteProgram( DMLProgram prog, FunctionCallGraph fgraph, FunctionCallSizeInfo fcallSizes ) {
+	public boolean rewriteProgram( DMLProgram prog, FunctionCallGraph fgraph, FunctionCallSizeInfo fcallSizes ) {
 		//remove unnecessary checkpoint before update 
 		removeCheckpointBeforeUpdate(prog);
 		
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@
 		
 		//remove unnecessary checkpoint read-{write|uagg}
 		removeCheckpointReadWrite(prog);
+		return false;
 	}
 	
 	private static void removeCheckpointBeforeUpdate(DMLProgram dmlp) {
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassRemoveUnusedFunctions.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassRemoveUnusedFunctions.java
index 6d6abc8..9304926 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassRemoveUnusedFunctions.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/IPAPassRemoveUnusedFunctions.java
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@
 	}
 	
 	@Override
-	public void rewriteProgram( DMLProgram prog, FunctionCallGraph fgraph, FunctionCallSizeInfo fcallSizes ) {
+	public boolean rewriteProgram( DMLProgram prog, FunctionCallGraph fgraph, FunctionCallSizeInfo fcallSizes ) {
 		try {
 			Set<String> fnamespaces = prog.getNamespaces().keySet();
 			for( String fnspace : fnamespaces  ) {
@@ -64,5 +64,6 @@
 		catch(LanguageException ex) {
 			throw new HopsException(ex);
 		}
+		return false;
 	}
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/InterProceduralAnalysis.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/InterProceduralAnalysis.java
index abb8b81..579af77 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/InterProceduralAnalysis.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/ipa/InterProceduralAnalysis.java
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@
 	private final StatementBlock _sb;
 	
 	//function call graph for functions reachable from main
-	private final FunctionCallGraph _fgraph;
+	private FunctionCallGraph _fgraph;
 	
 	//set IPA passes to apply in order 
 	private final ArrayList<IPAPass> _passes;
@@ -200,9 +200,10 @@
 			}
 			
 			//step 2: apply additional IPA passes
+			boolean rebuildFGraph = false;
 			for( IPAPass pass : _passes )
 				if( pass.isApplicable(_fgraph) )
-					pass.rewriteProgram(_prog, _fgraph, fcallSizes);
+					rebuildFGraph |= pass.rewriteProgram(_prog, _fgraph, fcallSizes);
 			
 			//early abort without functions or on reached fixpoint
 			if( _fgraph.getReachableFunctions().isEmpty() 
@@ -212,6 +213,10 @@
 						+ " repetitions due to reached fixpoint.");
 				break;
 			}
+			
+			//step 3: rebuild function call graph if necessary
+			if( rebuildFGraph && i < repetitions-1 )
+				_fgraph = new FunctionCallGraph(_prog);
 		}
 		
 		//cleanup pass: remove unused functions
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/rewrite/ProgramRewriter.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/rewrite/ProgramRewriter.java
index 87df183..af81e86 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/rewrite/ProgramRewriter.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/rewrite/ProgramRewriter.java
@@ -191,8 +191,10 @@
 	}
 	
 	public ProgramRewriteStatus rewriteProgramHopDAGs(DMLProgram dmlp, boolean splitDags) {
-		ProgramRewriteStatus state = new ProgramRewriteStatus();
-		
+		return rewriteProgramHopDAGs(dmlp, splitDags, new ProgramRewriteStatus());
+	}
+	
+	public ProgramRewriteStatus rewriteProgramHopDAGs(DMLProgram dmlp, boolean splitDags, ProgramRewriteStatus state) {
 		// for each namespace, handle function statement blocks
 		for (String namespaceKey : dmlp.getNamespaces().keySet())
 			for (String fname : dmlp.getFunctionStatementBlocks(namespaceKey).keySet()) {
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/apache/sysds/test/functions/builtin/BuiltinSliceFinderTest.java b/src/test/java/org/apache/sysds/test/functions/builtin/BuiltinSliceFinderTest.java
index ff9b639..a5dd9a7 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/apache/sysds/test/functions/builtin/BuiltinSliceFinderTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/apache/sysds/test/functions/builtin/BuiltinSliceFinderTest.java
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 package org.apache.sysds.test.functions.builtin;
 
 
+import org.junit.Assert;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.apache.sysds.common.Types.ExecMode;
 import org.apache.sysds.test.AutomatedTestBase;
@@ -110,6 +111,9 @@
 			double[][] ret = TestUtils.convertHashMapToDoubleArray(readDMLMatrixFromHDFS("R"));
 			for(int i=0; i<K; i++)
 				TestUtils.compareMatrices(EXPECTED_TOPK[i], ret[i], 1e-2);
+		
+			//ensure proper inlining, despite initially multiple calls and large function
+			Assert.assertFalse(heavyHittersContainsSubString("evalSlice"));
 		}
 		finally {
 			rtplatform = platformOld;