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ACCA Strategic Professional · Advanced Performance Management · Non-financial performance measurement

Zenith Logistics, a courier company, wants to add non-financial measures to its performance system. The finance director proposes tracking 'number of parcels scanned per hour' for drivers. Drivers can easily raise this figure by scanning parcels without delivering them. Which design weakness does this best illustrate?

The measure can be manipulated and fails goal congruence. Drivers can inflate scans per hour without delivering parcels, so the metric improves while the real objective of reliable delivery suffers. Well-designed non-financial measures must resist gaming and support the strategic goals they are meant to reflect.

  1. AThe measure is not linked to a financial target
  2. BThe measure can be manipulated and is not congruent with the goal of reliable deliveryCorrect
  3. CThe measure is too difficult to quantify
  4. DThe measure is reported too infrequently to be useful

Explanation

A good measure should be controllable yet resistant to gaming and aligned with organisational goals. Scanning without delivery improves the metric while harming customer service, so the measure lacks goal congruence. It is easily quantified and frequently available, so the quantification and frequency options are wrong.

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