The Background-Field Method and Noninvariant Renormalization
  We investigate the consistency of the background-field formalism when applying various regularizations and renormalization schemes. By an example of a two-dimensional $\sigma$ model it is demonstrated that the background-field method gives incorrect results when the regularization (and/or renormalization) is noninvariant. In particular, it is found that the cut-off regularization and the differential renormalization belong to this class and are incompatible with the background-field method in theories with nonlinear symmetries. 
L.V.Avdeev, D.I.Kazakov and M.Yu.Kalmykov