The Use of Strategic Performance Variables as Leading Indicators in Financial Analysts' Forecasts

An emerging view among managers and academicians argues for an expanded reporting system to provide more comprehensive information about organizational performance, including internal strategic performance variables, although there is little systematically gathered evidence on the views of the analyst community in this regard. Reported here are the results of a survey of 420 practitioners regarding the frequency of use, predictive value, and ease of acquisition of a variety of financial and non-financial performance measures. The patterns of use that emerge paint a picture in which analysts go well beyond the traditional financial measures and use a broad range of strategic leading indicators to assess long-term organizational success