Each month, most managers receive accounting reports that inform them how their business is performing and whether they need to take action to meet the budget. If they want more info, they can ‘drill down’ into lower levels of detail and find out what’s going on by division, department or cost center.

However, these reports don't tell managers about where they are today, where they are headed, what is the trend and why it's occurring, how the results compare with their competitors or what action must be taken to improve performance.

This paper outlines the value of key performance indicators (KPIs) and why it's integral you set annual targets for each of them and measure performance against them rather than develop strategy maps and generate strategic action plans that drive performance improvement.