Performance measures play an important role in all companies and their daily operations. By providing multiple methods of comparison and evaluation, accounting measures provide a better view of the overall health of a company. Not only do investors use certain measures to decide which companies to invest in, but internal managers use other measures to ensure that their company meets established standards and does not fall behind or lose money. Therefore, it is important that these measures are accurate and not misleading. It is up to auditors and regulators, such as the SEC, to ensure that only reliable measurements are provided. While custom measurements can focus more accurately on the goals of a specific company or process, more traditional measurements can be used to compare companies or processes. As customized or specialized performance measures increase in popularity, their validity must be compared and contrasted with that of traditional performance measures. The importance of creating performance measures extends from internal managers to external investors. Internal managers can use various performance measures to determine whether a company is running efficiently and meeting preset standards. For example, an internal manager at a manufacturing plant may use performance measurements to see whether enough products are being made to meet demand, whether machines are being used for maximum profit, and whether there are enough employees to run the machines. Executive management can use performance measures to determine whether it is on track to be profitable for the year, and if not, they can use them to understand why it is not profitable. Investors and analysis... half of the paper... the urn is the total return of a stock to an investor. This is equivalent to capital gain plus dividends over a certain period. The advantage of total shareholder return is that it allows you to compare the performance of stocks even if they do not have the same growth rate or dividends. Economic value added (EVA) is a measure of a company's financial situation based on residual wealth. It is calculated by taking the net operating profit after taxes and subtracting the cost of capital from the capital. Maintaining the integrity of these measurements is important as they are not regulated or controlled. To maintain integrity, a company must be consistent with the data included and must disclose this information with measurements. Beyond that, it's important for the company to show how these measures hold up against the most comparable GAAP measure.