Timely feedback, a novel concept

Accenture is apparently ditching their archaic, yearly performance review. And instead:

“employees (will) receive timely feedback from their managers on an ongoing basis following assignments.

What a novel concept, who would’ve thunk it.

What bothers me is the following that was quoted in an article related to the matter, in the Washington Post:

These companies say their own research, as well as outside studies, ultimately convinced them that all the time, money and effort spent didn’t ultimately accomplish their main goal — to drive better performance among employees.

The underlying issue with so many companies is that they’re focused on measuring, analyzing and justifying what can’t be measured, that they fail to apply common sense to every day management challenges.

Who in their right mind would think that an annual performance review would be effective? Who needs to look at the numbers to answer that question?