A Comparison of Performance Measures for Finding the Best Measure of Business Entity Performance: Source from the Tehran Stock Exchange

Abstract

One of the most important goals of a business unit is creating value and wealth for its shareholders and attracting them for more investment. The success of management, and consequently the success of the business unit, is measured by the level of value created for its shareholders. Economic Value Added is a performance measure that is in essence related to the market value of a firm. This measure focuses on the ability of business organizations to create return beyond cost of shareholders equity based on certain risk.

In this research, the interrelationship between EVA, Cash Flows, and Earning per Share is examined to find the best measure of business organizations performance. The reason for choosing traditional measures as Earning per Share and cash flow generated by operations is the high concern for profit making and liquidity in firms.

The time period is between 2005 and 2009, and studied firms are listed companies on the Tehran Stock Exchange. In addition, a linear regression model is used for panel data, and analysis is done using Eviews. The results of the research show that EVA comparison to OCF and EPS is a more efficient measure than MV.

Keywords: Economic Value Added (EVA), Net Operating Profit after Tax (NOPAT), Operating Cash Flow (OCF).Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC)

JEL Classification: G17, G32, M41, M21, L21, L25