THE APPLICABILITY OF SELECTED FINANCIAL METRICS IN EVALUATING PURHASING PERFORMANCE

Return on Assets (ROA) may be encountered as an indicator of the supply in the research studies on supply issues. The indicator is rather an indicator of the performance of the entire enterprise, as evidenced by the very low correlation with the purchasing operating efficiency metrics as purchased quantity per dollar, purchased quantity per purchasing employee, or turnover ratio. Another way to evaluate the purchasing performance is based on Management by Objectives (MBO). The metrics of purchasing operational efficiency, as well as evaluation on the basis of MBO, can be obtained only from detailed analyses or audits, which are often not implemented in the enterprises; ROA is a very rough indicator of the purchasing performance. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to put forward purchasing performance indicators based on available information from financial statements and determine whether these indicators are applicable for purchasing performance evaluation. A survey method was the basic tool for collecting the data. Financial data were obtained from the Albertina database. Suggested indicators are compared with the MBO indicators acquired by exploratory analysis of data concerning purchasing objectives' importance and fulfilment. It is confirmed that the selected indicators based on available financial statements (purchasing costs per employee, inventory turnover, purchasing costs per unit sold) are suitable as a partial evaluation of the purchasing performance.