The three types of measures presented thus far are not mutually exclusive. For example gradual implementation of JIT is a popular way of achieving simplification, so many of the JIT-related measures can also be measures of simplification, and vice versa. All three types of nonfinancial measures can serve as tools for planning and controlling production processes and for evaluating the performance of a department, a team of workers and managers, a product, or a plant.
A very different use of these and other nonfinancial performance measures is in monitoring the firm's progress toward attaining strategic objectives or critical success factors. For example, nonfinancial performance measures that would be useful in pursuing an objective of providing excellent customer service and satisfaction include the percentage of on-time deliveries and the number of units or orders returned by customers. Nonfinancial performance measures that would be useful in pursuing the objective of world-class employee involvement and motivation include the average number of written suggestions made by each employee per year.
The increased interest in nonfinancial performance measures originated outside the operations of cost accounting systems. In part, this increased interest is a response to perceived problems with traditional accounting measures. It would be counter-productive, though, to view this development as a threat to the management accountant's role. Rather, the essential skills of the management accountant can be applied to the identification, measurement, verification, reporting, and interpretation of any performance measure, whether it is stated in dollars or not.
For example, if a firm's production engineers or salespeople begin ignoring financial measures because they are viewed as being too late, too aggregated, or too unresponsive to changing needs, then they may develop their own measures of each department's performance. If engineers and salespeople regard the new measures as more timely or more relevant, then managers are likely to request the same information once they learn it is available. The management accountant may then be required, after the fact, to verify the information and estimate or explain its financial impact. It is more efficient for the management accountant to be involved early in the process and establish efficient and verifiable data-gathering and reporting systems.