A new report based on international assignments shows that nearly half of companies fail to measure the effectiveness of their international assignments; amazingly, the report found that only 3% of companies are able to track the return on investment for international placements.

The 2008 International Assignments Survey conducted by Mercer collected data from more than 200 multinational firms. Seventy-one percent of companies surveyed said measuring the financial benefits of international assignments is a challenge due to lack of appropriate measurement tools, decentralized data and time constraints.

Less than one-quarter (17%) of respondents said they had reasonably accurate figures they could use to calculate the cost of their international assignments; 21% said they are not in a position to provide figures; nearly three-quarters of companies said their assignment cost information is distributed throughout different countries or business units; only 28% said all their international assignment costs were compiled in a central database.

One of the main issues companies cited for not having or being able to get the information was a lack of centralized financial control systems (46%) and inadequate or missing software tools (45%). The survey found that 44% do not measure the benefit of international assignments and 28% find it difficult to measure the impact in terms of revenue generated. Only 3% of respondents said they have a process to track the return on investment for their international assignments.