A look at the right hand sides of expressions (1a) to (1d) suggests that there are three main opportunities to increase residual income. Other things equal, managers will increase residual income to the extent they increase NOPAT and ROA, decrease WACC (though this is inherently more difficult), or reallocate capital away from negative ‘spread’ toward positive ‘spread’ investments. These opportunities become incentives when managers are evaluated or compensated based on residual income (or EVA). Later in this article we review evidence on the effects of these incentives on managements’ actions.