MA.9:4 - Solution

MA.9:4.1 - Recover the account and how people use it

Identify the measured quantity, calculation, participant and decision or reward it affects. Ask the affected people what actions they can take and how the account enters the choice.

Recover the intended result and the relevant resource, monetary and service consequences. MA.1–4 supply missing meanings; MA.6 distinguishes a forecast from a target or resource request.

MA.9:4.2 - Work through the behavior the arrangement encourages

Compare plausible actions under the actual measure and its use. Calculate how each affects the reported result and the consequence the organization or participant needs.

Look for a specific divergence: producing more can lower an assigned unit cost while increasing unsold stock; moving a cost can improve one unit’s account while leaving the total unchanged. The divergence identifies a hypothesis about behavior, not proof that the measure caused an observed action.

MA.9:4.3 - Inspect actual effects and rival explanations

Use records, participant accounts and other adequate evidence to establish what happened and why it may have happened. Examine rivals that would lead to a different repair, such as anticipated demand, a justified reserve, a supply constraint or a changed instruction.

Retain uncertainty about cause. If the contemplated change requires stronger evidence, use the applicable inquiry method. A bounded trial can be useful where it is appropriate and authorized.

MA.9:4.4 - Change the account or its use where warranted

Choose the smallest change that addresses the established problem: clarify a denominator, separate meanings, change the performance interpretation or provide a missing consequence alongside the existing figure. Preserve information still needed for legitimate reporting and decisions.

When performance interpretation is the missing contribution, OPS.22 develops the judgement from the aim, result, changed conditions, participants’ actions and joint consequences. If the aim or comparison itself is unsound, OPS.21 reconstructs it. Use an adequate existing interpretation directly.

If the repair changes reward or authority arrangements, use OCE to plan the necessary organizational work and have the responsible people make the change effective.

Specify what observable consequence would indicate improvement or a new problem. Revisit the actual use after the change, keeping changes in demand and other conditions available for interpretation.