Flexible Automation and Integrated Manufacturing 1999

ISBN Print: 978-1-56700-133-4

CONTROVERSIAL ASPECTS OF APPLYING "ACTIVITY-BASED COSTING" TO QUALITY IMPROVEMENT EFFORTS

DOI: 10.1615/FAIM1999.830
pages 981-987

Abstrakt

Activity-Based Costing/Management is an emerging accounting method that focuses on allocating costs based on the activities performed to produce products. ABCM represents a fundamentally different approach to accounting than the traditional financial and cost accounting methods which attempt to allocate costs based on the number of units of production. Since ABCM relies on an analysis at the most basic level (i.e., root level), there appears to be a relationship or commonality between ABCM and quality − which also relies on root cause analysis. Since the linkage between ABCM and quality is costs, it makes sense that the categories of quality costs defined by the American Society for Quality be analyzed with ABCM. What is interesting is that, while very controversial, ABCM appears to help identify a number of quality costs which have typically been miscategorized and thus understate the true cost of quality − which has helped cause a controversy in the assessment of quality costs. Also, as a new accounting method, ABCM has itself been the source of controversy since the cost structures between ABCM and traditional methods appear so different.