Since 1998, the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities in Ontario, Canada, has required that data on specific key performance indicators (KPIs) be made public by its publicly funded universities. The information is intended to be used by universities to demonstrate their achievements, to improve their programmes and services, and to provide a basis for informed decision-making by potential students and their parents in the selection of institutions and programmes. An exploratory and descriptive study on the perception of major informants of participating universities regarding the efficacy and effectiveness of existing KPIs uncovered a number of underlying issues: KPIs are not seen as appropriate measures of performance and accountability at institutional or programme levels; awarding performance funding through aggregation at institutional and system levels is far removed from programme improvement at the decision-making level; and, Ontario Student Assistance Programme Default Rates are driven by factors that are beyond institutions' control.