non financial measures

I agree with you that this is an ambiguous question.

The definition of non-financial performance measures are those which measure performance but are not defined in monetary units ( also includes ratios so long as the numerator or denominator are not measure in monetary terms).

I guess inventory levels are most likely to be measured in monetary terms – the value of inventory compared to an earlier point in time. This would indicate a measure of company liquidity which is financial.

There are other aspects to help you to assess financial Vs non-financial. One way is to consider that non-financial measures are more likely to be intangible in nature rather than being ‘hard’ assets which inventory would be.
i.e.
Number of new products – measuring innovation/ growth
Increase in market share – measuring influence and marketing success.
Customer retention rate – measuring customer satisfaction/ loyalty.

Finally – you should notice that non-financial measures are usually ‘lead’ indicators – which indicate success before this shows itself in financial terms – such as profit etc which is a lag indicators or the end result.
So in this respect – customer retention and the others would suggest that the company is doing well before this is reflected in profit figures. Whereas inventory levels could be seen as resulting from decisions or successes that have already happened so are the end result ( a lagged /trailing factor.)

None of these ways are perfect and may not work every time but hopefully it helps to have some extra ways to distinguish between financial and non-financial kpis.

My pleasure Abi – Im glad it helped.