To measure or not to measure

How does your organization measure up, and why don't more check their performances?

For some reason, determining how well an organization is doing in its strategic objectives and other metrics does not appear to be a priority despite its importance.

To investigate this strange phenomenon, CAmagazine teamed up with Robert Angel, president of consulting firm The Gilford Group and a chartered accountant, and sent out a questionnaire to Canadian CFOs and controllers with a CA designation to find out if, and how, they measure performance in their respective organizations. The results might surprise many: only 18% reported being satisfied with their performance management framework, while 18% said they were very dissatisfied. The rest, roughly 65%, reported being neutral about the usefulness of performance measures. "Just do it" (p. 28) makes for great reading.

Paul Sobey, CA, president and CEO of Empire Co., must have been doing a lot of performance measuring himself in the months preceding Empire's $1.06-billion offer to buy back the 28% of the Sobeys Inc. shares it didn't already own. The supermarket chain was founded by Sobey's great grandfather, J. W., 100 years ago. Writer Paul Brent met with the Nova Scotia-based head of Empire to discuss the future of the family holding that includes large real estate assets, drugstores, a theatre chain, etc. The result is an interesting and revealing profile of a man focused on "Empire building" (p. 20).

This month, the Regulars section for the first time offers two taxation articles. The first, "Tax and transaction costs" (p. 34), focuses on this important issue, particularly in a hot M&A market. The second, "It's a sure bet" (p. 37), is aimed at small businesses and small practices and suggests that stock options are a good way to retain key employees. The Technology article, "What have you got to lose?" (p. 41), deals with stolen computers that contain sensitive and valuable information. Our Standards article, "Your invitation to comment" (p. 43), is on the very important issue of reporting standards for private entities. Finally, our Education article, "Access to information" (p. 45), suggests that understanding stakeholder influence is key to improving website content management.

Columnist Jim Carroll appears at odds with the ever increasing speed of change. Read his thoughts in "The landscape of change" (p. 14). Michael Burns stays the course in "Chart your control with a matrix" (p. 16). In Outlook (p. 60), reflecting on the saga of Bell Canada, Marcel C�t� takes a hard look at the role of private equity funds and asks: who are the real winners and losers in this game?

[Author Affiliation]

Christian Bellavance, Editor-in-chief