We typically measure this by looking at general accounting data such as operating income, return on assets, sales growth and cash flow from operations. The Balanced Scorecard uses financial performance measures, such as net income and return on investment, because all for-profit organizations use them. Financial performance measures provide a universal measure for analyzing and comparing companies. Financial institutions and shareholders rely heavily on these financial performance measures when deciding whether to lend or invest funds in a company. When analyzing a company's financial data it is important to consider not only the company's current performance, but also historical and future data. For example, when we analyze historical data, we can compare this year's net profit to last year's, this year's sales revenue to last year's, and this month's average stock price with that of last month. These are all history-based measures of business performance. And sometimes we can use this historical data as we look to the future. For example, we may want to evaluate whether there has been significant sales growth from a particular geographic region or a particular industry that may lead us to plan for future growth in new or emerging markets. In turn, this could affect our financial future