As the year draws to a close, performance measurement becomes more critical than ever. The final quarter is not only about closing results, but it is a decisive period for validating strategic priorities, identifying performance gaps, and setting a solid baseline for the year ahead. At this stage, organizations rely heavily on well-defined key performance indicators (KPIs) to ensure financial discipline, operational stability, and informed decision-making.

The fourth quarter of 2025 placed a strong emphasis on controlling costs, strengthening incident response capabilities, and optimizing inventory levels. The featured KPIs for October, November, and December reflect key performance areas that help organizations finish the year with clarity and confidence, while also preparing for a smooth transition into 2026.

KPI of October: $ Cost of goods sold (COGS) – tracks the expenses directly associated with producing the goods a company sells, providing visibility into manufacturing and procurement spending. This KPI supports organizations in monitoring cost structures and maintaining control over production-related expenditures.

Effective monitoring of $ COGS helps leaders identify cost inefficiencies, optimize supplier and production decisions, and protect margins—making it essential for maintaining competitiveness and accurate pricing, especially at year-end. Download the free digital poster, via the TKI Marketplace, to learn more about how to define, measure, and apply the $ COGS effectively within your organization.

KPI of November: # Mean time to resolve (MTTR) –  measures the average duration required to identify, resolve, and prevent the recurrence of a security incident. It is used to evaluate an organization’s ability to respond to incidents efficiently and effectively and is one of several essential KPIs in incident management.

# MTTR offers insight into how quickly teams can detect issues, coordinate responses, and restore operations, and should be tracked alongside related indicators for a more complete view of incident response performance. Explore this indicator further by downloading the digital poster from the TKI Marketplace.

KPI of December: % Slow moving inventory – measures the share of inventory items that have remained unsold for a specified period (e.g., 90 or 180 days) compared to total inventory. This KPI helps organizations identify stock that may be at risk of becoming obsolete.

Monitoring slow-moving inventory enables organizations to make informed decisions on markdowns, promotions, redistribution, or discontinuation of underperforming items. Proactive management of this KPI supports healthier cash flow, leaner operations, and more accurate demand planning as organizations prepare for the new year. Download the digital poster from the TKI Marketplace to learn more.

These digital posters are part of the KPI of the Month series by The KPI Institute. It is a free infographic series designed to provide practical insights into the application of key performance indicators. Each edition focuses on one specific KPI, offering clear explanations of terminology, addressing common challenges in its use, and outlining essential details such as its definition, calculation, balanced scorecard relevance, data profile, typical targets, and actionable recommendations. Explore the other featured KPIs from the past quarters, visit the TKI Marketplace today!

While key performance indicators (KPIs) have been around for a long time and are vital for tracking corporate, operational, and employee performance, some organizations still struggle to use them effectively up to these days. 

According to The KPI Institute’s State of Strategy Management Practice Global Report – 2023, 25% of the 346 respondents from private, government, and non-profit organizations expressed that aligning KPIs and targets across the organization continues to be their primary challenge. Moreover, 24% struggle with KPI selection, reflecting a 4% increase compared to results from 2022. When assessing their organizations’ proficiency in documenting KPIs, 47% of respondents rate their capabilities as high or better, but it is still important to note that 26% rate their documentation capabilities as low or lowest. Hence, 16% of them encounter difficulties in documenting KPIs.

To offer insights into the practical application of KPIs, The KPI Institute introduced a series of free infographics called KPI of the Month. Each infographic focuses on a particular KPI that provides explanations of terminology and addresses key challenges related to its use. The monthly infographics include profile, calculation, balanced scorecard focus, data profile, targets, and practical recommendations.

In case you missed the KPI of the Month from the first quarter of 2024, we’ve compiled the highlights to keep you informed and up-to-date:

KPI of January: $ Free cash flow (FCF) – This indicator “measures the amount of cash a company generates from its operations, after covering operating expenses and capital expenditures.” It aims to offer insights into a company’s financial well-being and ensure efficient cash management. One of its benefits is that it offers a focused evaluation of liquidity and solvency through exclusive attention to cash flow. To learn more about $ FCF, download the poster on the TKI Marketplace.

KPI of February: # Greenhouse gas emissions – This indicator’s purpose is to evaluate environmental pressures from greenhouse gas emissions. Specifically, it “measures the quantity of greenhouse gas emissions of country, industry,  or company expressed in metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e).” The greenhouse gas emissions have become a pressing issue that even the United Nations set ambitious net-zero goals, aiming for a 45% reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions by 2023 and achieving net-zero emissions worldwide by 2050. Learn how to utilize this indicator to align with your strategy for reducing emissions. Get the free infographic via TKI Marketplace.

KPI of March: % Critical positions filled – This indicator “measures the percentage of critical job positions that have been filled out of all available positions identified as critical within an organization.” The objective being measured by this indicator is the improvement of workforce planning for key positions. The % Critical positions filled helps organizations assess their capability to attract and retain suitable talent for critical job positions. But to utilize this KPI, identifying the critical positions within the organizations is important. To find out more about how you can apply this indicator in practice, grab a copy of the free poster from the TKI Marketplace. 

To amplify your KPI toolkit with a wealth of documented KPIs from various industries and functional areas, visit smartKPIs.com— the leading online platform for performance measurement knowledge integration and the world’s largest database featuring over 21,000 documented KPIs.