Committing to certain accounting targets can, thus, be seen as a first step towards creating a financial focus. The process of top management's socialization begins in a stage called “anticipatory socialization” when the managers, still outsiders, anticipate their experiences of being in charge of a listed company (c.f., Louis, 1980). During anticipatory socialization, the managers get a first sense of what it means to be a listed company and become aware of the great importance attached to specified accounting metrics.