Total Quality Management
Continuous improvement is crucial to establishing manufacturing excellence. Making products with little waste that actually perform according to specifications are the twin objectives of word-class firms; they are the key to survival in today’s word-class competitive environment. A philosophy of total quality management, in which manufactures strive to create an environment that will enable workers to manufacture perfect (zero – defect) products, has replaced the “acceptable quality” attitudes of the past. This total emphasis on quality has also created a demand for a management accounting system that provides financial and nonfinancial information about quality.
Service industries are also dedicated to improving quality. Service firms present special problems because quality may differ from employee. As a result, service firms are emphasizing consistency through the development of systems to support employee efforts. For example, Park Place Lexus of Plano, Texas, is a 2005 Malcolm Baldridge Quality Award winner. Park Place Lexus measure client satisfaction with new vehicles(99.8 percent), with pre-owned vehicles(98 percent), and with vehicle maintenance and service(near 98 percent). Park Place Lexus is also improving in profitability; its gross profit increased by 51.3 percent from 2000 to 2004. Clearly, quality initiatives are paying off.
Quality cost measurement and reporting are key features of a management accounting system for manufacturing and service industries. In both cases, the system should be able to provide both operational and financial information about quality, including information such as the number of defects, quality cost reports, quality cost trend report, and quality cost performance reports.