Key Performance Indictors (KPI)

Financial measures are the most frequently used metrics in many organizations.  They are at the top of a for-profit balanced scorecard and often serve as the foundation for government and nonprofit scorecards.  

We get questions all the time about the best way to ensure you’re on track with your finances. While it’s true that your measures should support on your strategy, it’s true that some measures are better than others.  Keep in mind that you should have a balance of customer, process, and HR measures as well.

Many organizations consider financial performance indicators to be the ultimate outcome measure—for good reason. They are very important to monitor, and because every company uses them, they’re great for comparing how you’re doing against your competition. To give you a leg up, we’ve compiled this library of 68 important financial KPIs and scorecard measures that you may want to consider implementing.

Note: We’re not suggesting nor advocating for you to begin measuring all of these KPIs. Rather, you can use this extensive list to get an idea of what like-minded organizations may be looking at, then research KPIs from other lists, and decide upon the critical few that are in line with your strategy. Ultimately, you determine the KPIs that impact your business the most.

Cash Flow KPIs

1. Working Capital: Measures an organization’s financial health by analyzing readily available resources that could be used to meet any short-term obligations.

2. Operating Cash Flow: The amount of cash generated by regular business operations.

3. Cash Rotation (365/Cash Cycle): The number of times the cash comes back to the organization for a period of one year.

4. Cash Flow from Investing Activities: Shows the change in an organization’s cash position caused by investments, gains, or losses.

5. Cash Flow from Financing Activities: Demonstrates an organization’s financial strength. Formula: (Cash Received from Issuing Stock or Debt) – (Cash Paid as Dividends and Reacquisition of Debt/Stock) = (Cash Flow from Financing Activities)

6. Cash Flow: The total amount of money being transferred into and out of an organization.

7. Cash Conversion Cycle: Demonstrates the amount of time it takes for money invested in the organization to come back to the organization in the form of increased revenue.

8. Accounts Receivable Turnover: The rate at which an organization collects on outstanding accounts. Formula: (Net Credit Sales) / (Average Accounts Receivable) = (Accounts Receivable Turnover)

9. Accounts Receivable: The amount of money an organization is owed by its customers.

10. Accounts Payable Turnover: The rate at which an organization pays off suppliers and other expenses. Formula: (Total Supplier Purchases) / (Average Accounts Payable) = (Accounts Payable Turnover)

11. Accounts Payable: Shows the amount of money an organization owes its suppliers.

12. Number/Percentage of Invoices Past Due: Invoices that remain unpaid after their due date.

Cost KPIs

13. Total Expenses: Consists of the total costs an organization incurs during a reporting period (including marketing, sales, and operations costs).

14. SG&A: The costs of operating an organization—including selling, and general and administrative expenses—are collectively referred to as SG&A.

15. Sales Expense: Costs incurred by the sales department—including salaries and commissions.

16. Marketing Expenses: Encompasses the total costs incurred by the marketing department, including advertising, salaries, research, and surveys.

17. Inventory Turnover: The number of times an organization is able to sell off its in-stock inventory in a given period. Formula: (Sales) / (Inventory) = (Inventory Turnover)

18. Cost Per Unit: The price to produce, store, and sell one unit of a particular product including fixed and variable costs of production. Formula: ([Variable Cost] + [Fixed Cost]) / (Number of Units Produced) = (Cost Per Unit)

19. Cost Per Hire: The average cost of hiring a new employee, including advertising fees, employee referrals, travel expenses, relocation expenses, and recruiter costs. Formula: (New Hire Expenses) / (Number of New Hires) = (Cost Per Hire)

20. Cost of Goods Sold (COGS): Represents the cost of materials and direct labor used to produce a good.

21. Average Annual Expenses to Serve One Customer: This is the average amount needed to serve one customer. Formula: (Total Expenses) / (Total Customers) = (Average Annual Expenses to Serve One Customer)

22. Customer Acquisition Cost: The cost to acquire one new customer.

23. Cost per Click: Measures the cost of a pay-per-click advertising campaign (such as Google AdWords).

24. Percentage of Cost of Workforce: The cost of the workforce as compared to all costs can be measured by summing all salaries and dividing by the total company costs within a given time period. Formula: (Salary Costs) / (Total Company Costs) = (Percentage of Cost of Workforce)

25. Health Care Expense per Current Employee: The total price of health care costs divided out among all employees provides an understanding of the comprehensiveness of a company’s health care plan.

Debt KPIs

26. Quick Ratio (“Acid Test”): Shows the ability of an organization to meet any short-term financial liabilities, such as upcoming bills. Formula: ([Current Assets] – [Inventories]) / (Current Liabilities) = (Quick Ratio)

27. Price-Earnings Ratio (P/E): An equity valuation multiple that compares an organization’s share price to its per-share earnings. Formula: (Market Value Per Share) / (Earnings Per Share) = (Price-Earnings Ratio)

28. Debt to Equity Ratio: Measures how an organization is funding its growth and using shareholder investments. Formula: (Total Liabilities) / (Shareholders’ Equity) = (Debt to Equity Ratio)

29. Debt Level: The amount of debt that an organization currently has.

30. Current Ratio: Measures the ability of an organization to pay all of its debts over a given time period. Formula: (Current Assets) / (Current Liabilities) = (Current Ratio)

31. Bad Debt: Debt that is not collectible, and is often written off as an expense.

Investment KPIs

32. Savings Levels Due to Improvement Efforts: Many organizations look at investing in improvements, or merging operations (or even companies). This KPI looks at the dollar value of the savings achieved as a result of these investments.

33. Return on Innovation Investment: Can be calculated by looking at the revenue from new products, or the number of new products meeting a revenue threshold. This is typically only reviewed by organizations that have created an innovation department or budget.

34. Inventory Assets: The cost of merchandise purchased or manufactured, but not yet sold, may be a good leading indicator of preparedness for growth or even slowing growth.

35. Innovation Spending: The amount of money that an organization spends on innovation. Some organizations have this budgeted as research and development, and others have different accounting terms. Ultimately, if you use this measure, you are valuing innovation as a key strategic thrust.

36. Break Even Time: The time it takes an organization to break even from its investment in a new product or process. If the costs are big up front, this measure can help you understand how long it will take to recoup these expenses.

37. Percentage of Investment in…: Used for measuring investments in different lines of business. You might measure the percentage of your investment in organic products vs. total investment in products overall. Formula: (Amount of Investment) / (Total Capital Spent) = (Percentage of Investment)

38. Number of Key Capital Investments that Meet or Exceed ROI Expectations: Can be based on the plan for investments, or on the results of past investments. Useful for organizations that invest in many capital projects.

Profitability KPIs

39. Sales Growth: The change in an organization’s sales from one reporting period to another. Formula: ([Current Sales] – [Past Sales]) / (Past Sales) = (Sales Growth)

40. ROI (Return on Investment): Shows the efficiency of an investment. Formula: ([Gain from Investment] – [Cost of Investment]) / (Cost of Investment) = (ROI)

41. ROE (Return on Equity): The amount of net income an organization generates compared to the amount of shareholders’ equity. Formula: (Net Income) / (Shareholders’ Equity) = (ROE)

42. ROA (Return on Assets): Indicates how profitable an organization is relative to its total assets. Formula: (Net Income) / (Total Assets) = (ROA)

43. Return on Capital Employed: Measures an organization’s profitability and the efficiency with which its capital is employed.

44. Program Profitability: Tracks the profitability of an individual program.

45. Operating Profit Margin: Measures income after variable costs of production are considered. Formula: (Operating Income) / (Net Sales) = (Operating Profit Margin)

46. Net Profit Margin: The percentage of an organization’s revenue that is net profit. Formula: (Net Profit) / (Revenue) = (Net Profit Margin)

47. Net Profit: The amount of money an organization makes after taking out all expenses and other costs. Formula: (Income) – (Expenses) = (Net Profit)

48. Gross Profit Margin: The percentage of revenue that is profit after the cost of production and sales is considered. Formula: (Gross Margin) / (Revenue) = (Gross Profit Margin)

49. Gross Profit: An organization’s profit after the cost of production and sales is considered. Formula: (Revenue) – (COGS) = (Gross Profit)

50. Economic Value Added (EVA): An estimate of an organization’s economic profit.

51. Average Capital Employed: Shows profitability compared to investments made in new capital.

52. Customer Lifetime Value: The net profit an organization anticipates gaining from a customer over the entire length of a relationship helps to determine the costs/benefits of acquisition efforts.

53. (Customer Lifetime Value) / (Customer Acquisition Cost): The ratio of customer lifetime value to customer acquisition cost should ideally be greater than one, as a customer is not profitable if the cost to acquire is greater than the profit they will bring to a company. Formula: (Net Expected Lifetime Profit from Customer) / (Cost to Acquire Customer)

54. Human Capital Value Added (HCVA): By taking all non-employee related costs away from the revenue and dividing the result by the number of full-time employees, one can deduce how profitable the average worker in an organization is. Formula: ([Revenue] – [Non-Employee-Related Costs]) / (Number of Full-Time Employees) = (HCVA)

Revenue KPIs

55. Sales Volume: The amount of sales in a reporting period, expressed in the number of units sold.

56. Sales Forecast Accuracy: The proximity of the forecasted quantity of sales to the actual quantity of sales.

57. ROI of Research & Development: The revenue generated by investing money into research and development. Formula: ([Gain from Investment] – [Cost of Investment]) / (Cost of Investment) = (ROI of Research & Development)

58. Revenue per Full-Time Employee (FTE): Demonstrates how expensive an organization is to run. Formula: (Revenue) / (Number of FTE) = (Revenue per FTE)

59. Revenue Growth Rate: The rate at which an organization’s income is increasing. Formula: ([Current Revenue] – [Past Revenue]) / (Past Revenue) = (Revenue Growth Rate)

60. Revenue: The total income an organization receives. Formula: (Price of Goods) x (Number of Goods Sold) = (Revenue)

61. Operating Income: The profit from operations after removing operating expenses. Formula: (Gross Income) – (Operating Expenses) – (Depreciation & Amortization) = (Operating Income)

62. Net Income: The amount of sales after subtracting discounts, returns, and damaged goods. Formula: (Revenue) – (Expenses) = (Net Income)

63. EBT (Earning Before Taxes): Shows how much an organization has made after considering COGS, interest, and SG&A expenses, before taxes are subtracted. Formula: (Revenue) – (COGS) – (Interest) – (SG&A) = (EBT)

64. EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation & Amortization): Measures revenue after expenses are considered and interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization are excluded. Formula: (Revenue) – (Expenses Excluding Interest, Tax, Depreciation & Amortization) = (EBITDA)

65. Average Annual Sales Volume per Customer: This is the average amount of sales per customer, expressed in currency. Formula: (Total Sales) / (Total Customers) = (Average Annual Sales Volume per Customer)

66. Asset Utilization: Total revenue earned for every dollar of assets an organization owns. Formula: (Total Revenue) / (Total Assets) = (Asset Utilization)

67. Share of Wallet: Measures the portion of a customer’s total spending that goes toward the company’s products and services.

68. Earnings Before Interest and Taxes (EBIT): An indicator of a company’s profitability with expenses removed and interest and tax excluded. Formula: (Revenue) – (COGS) – (Operating Expenses) = (EBIT)

Being Agile - Key Project Management Skills →

In project management terms, the definition is characterized by the division of tasks into short work phases called ‘sprints,’ with frequent reassessments and adaptation of plans. This technique is popular in software development but is also useful when rolling out other projects.

Managing the Seven Agile Development Phases

Stage 1: Vision. Define the software product in terms of how it will support the company vision and strategy, and what value it will provide the user. Customer satisfaction is of paramount value including accommodating user requirement changes.

Stage 2: Product Roadmap. Appoint a product owner responsible for liaising with the customer, business stakeholders and the development team. Task the owner with writing a high-level product description, creating a loose time frame and estimating effort for each phase.

Stage 3: Release Plan. Agile always looks ahead towards the benefits that will flow. Once agreed, the Product Roadmap becomes the target deadline for delivery. With Vision, Road Map and Release Plan in place the next stage is to divide the project into manageable chunks, which may be parallel or serial.

Stage 4: Sprint Plans. Manage each of these phases as individual ‘sprints,’ with emphasis on speed and meeting targets. Before the development team starts working, make sure it agrees a common goal, identifies requirements and lists the tasks it will perform.

Stage 5: Daily Meetings. Meet with the development team each morning for a 15-minute review. Discuss what happened yesterday, identify and celebrate progress, and find a way to resolve or work around roadblocks. The goal is to get to alpha phase quickly. Nice-to-haves can be part of subsequent upgrades.

Stage 6: Sprint Review. When the phase of the project is complete, facilitate a sprint review with the team to confirm this. Invite the customer, business stakeholders and development team to a presentation where you demonstrate the project —project phase implemented.

Stage 7: Sprint Retrospective. Call the team together again (the next day if possible) for a project review to discuss lessons learned. Focus on achievements and how to do even better next time. Document and implement process changes.

The Seven Agile Development Phases – Conclusions and Thoughts

The Agile method is an excellent way of motivating project teams, achieving goals and building result-based communities. It is however, not a static system. The project owner must conduct frequent reviews with team and customers.

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