In an article on Oct. 16, 2000, in the Financial Times’ Mastering Management series, Wharton accounting professors Christopher Ittner and David Larcker suggest that financial data have limitations as a measure of company performance. The two note that other measures, such as quality, may be better at forecasting, but can be difficult to implement. Below is the text of their article. Choosing performance measures is a challenge. Performance measurement systems play a key role in developing strategy, evaluating the achievement of organizational objectives and compensating managers. Yet many managers feel traditional financially oriented systems no longer work adequately. A recent survey of U.S. financial services companies found most were not satisfied with their measurement systems. They believed there was too much emphasis on financial measures such as earnings and accounting returns and little emphasis on drivers of value such as customer and employee satisfaction, innovation and quality.…