Improving the definition and quantification of quality costs

A difficulty facing companies today is the inadequacy of most cost-accounting systems in addressing quality costs and in supplying appropriate data in a suitable format that considers total cost. The main reason for this inadequacy is a lack of adequate methods for determining the financial consequences of poor quality associated with various quality activities. The present study addresses these needs by first refining the traditional ‘Prevention–Appraisal–Failure’ (PAF) categories of quality costs and hidden costs through the definition and addition of two new categories: ‘extra resultant cost’ and ‘estimated hidden cost’. Using this new categorization, the study then provides a detailed classification of the items of quality costs in terms of an expanded list of quality activities along the product life-cycle. The study then demonstrates the calculation of several kinds of total costs using different formats of a ‘cost of quality account matrix’, including a calculation of the sharing of responsibility for these costs among relevant departments.