Cornerstones of Cost Management (Cornerstones Series)
4th Edition
ISBN: 9781305970663
Author: Don R. Hansen, Maryanne M. Mowen
Publisher: Cengage Learning
expand_more
expand_more
format_list_bulleted
Videos
Textbook Question
Chapter 14, Problem 7E
Rachel Boyce, president of a company that manufactures electronic components, has a number of questions concerning quality and quality costs. She has heard a few things about quality and has asked you to respond to the following questions.
Required:
- 1. What does it mean to have a quality product or service? Explain how product quality and conformance are related.
- 2. Yesterday, my quality manager told me that we need to redefine what we mean by a defective product. He said that conforming to specifications ignores the cost of product variability and that further reduction of product variability is a veritable gold mine—just waiting to be mined. What did he mean?
Expert Solution & Answer
Trending nowThis is a popular solution!
Students have asked these similar questions
Danna Lummus, the president of Karlene Company, has recently returned from a conference on quality and productivity. At the conference, she learned that many American firms have made significant progress in improving quality and reducing quality costs. Many of these firms have been able to reduce quality costs from 20 to 30 percent of sales to 2 to 3 percent of sales. She was skeptical, however, about this statistic. Even if the quality gurus were right, she was sure that her company’s quality costs were much lower—probably less than 5 percent. On the other hand, if she was wrong, she would be passing up an opportunity to improve profits significantly and simultaneously strengthen her competitive position. In fact, she reflected on the com- ment of one of the quality experts: “Quality has become a condition of entrance to the market. If the product is not good, you will quickly go out of business.” The qual- ity issue was at least worth exploring. Moreover, she decided that it may be…
Richins Company is considering the acquisition of a computerized manufacturing system. The new system has a built in quality function that increases the control over product specifications. An alarm sounds whenever the product falls outside the programmed specifications. An operator can then make some adjustments on the spot to restore the desired product quality. The system is expected to decrease the number of units scrapped because of poor quality. The system is also expected to decrease the amount of labor inputs needed. The production manager is pushing for the aquisition because he believes that productivity will be greatly enhanced - particularly when it comes to labor and material inputs. Output and input data follow. The data for the computerized system are projections.
Current System Computerized System Output (units)…
Consider an organization that has empowered its employees, asking them to improve the quality, productivity, and responsiveness of their processes that involve repetitive work. This work could arise in a manufacturing setting, such as assembling cars or producing chemicals, or in a service setting, such as processing invoices or responding to customer orders and requests. Clearly, the workers would benefit from feedback on the quality (defects, yields) and process times of the work they were doing to suggest where they could make improvements. Identify the role, if any, for sharing financial information with these employees to help them in their efforts to improve quality, productivity, and process times. Be specific about the types of financial information that would be helpful and the specific decisions or actions that could be made better by supplementing physical and operational information with financial information.
Chapter 14 Solutions
Cornerstones of Cost Management (Cornerstones Series)
Ch. 14 - What is the difference between quality of design...Ch. 14 - Why are quality costs the costs of doing things...Ch. 14 - Prob. 3DQCh. 14 - Describe the Taguchi quality loss function, and...Ch. 14 - Identify and discuss the four kinds of quality...Ch. 14 - Explain why external failure costs can be more...Ch. 14 - Prob. 7DQCh. 14 - Prob. 8DQCh. 14 - Describe the three types of quality performance...Ch. 14 - Prob. 10DQ
Ch. 14 - If a firms annual sales are 200 million, what...Ch. 14 - Explain why it is important for a manager to...Ch. 14 - Prob. 13DQCh. 14 - Explain why the Accounting Department should be...Ch. 14 - Prob. 15DQCh. 14 - What is ecoefficiency?Ch. 14 - Prob. 17DQCh. 14 - Prob. 18DQCh. 14 - Prob. 19DQCh. 14 - What are the four categories of environmental...Ch. 14 - Prob. 21DQCh. 14 - What does full environmental costing mean? Full...Ch. 14 - What information is communicated by the unit...Ch. 14 - Evans Company had total sales of 3,000,000 for...Ch. 14 - Prob. 2CECh. 14 - Ross Company implemented a quality improvement...Ch. 14 - Nabors Company had actual quality costs for the...Ch. 14 - Verde Company reported operating costs of...Ch. 14 - Pinter Company had the following environmental...Ch. 14 - Rachel Boyce, president of a company that...Ch. 14 - Quality attributes such as performance and...Ch. 14 - Stahman, Inc., estimates its hidden external...Ch. 14 - Prob. 10ECh. 14 - Abernathy, Inc., produces two different generators...Ch. 14 - Kang Company reported sales of 3,240,000 in 20x5....Ch. 14 - Gagnon Company reported the following sales and...Ch. 14 - Muskogee Company had sales of 60,000,000 in 20x1....Ch. 14 - Javier Company has sales of 8 million and quality...Ch. 14 - In 20x4, Tru-Delite Frozen Desserts, Inc.,...Ch. 14 - Prob. 17ECh. 14 - Prob. 18ECh. 14 - Achieving sustainable development will likely...Ch. 14 - Classify the following environmental activities as...Ch. 14 - At the end of 20x5, Bing Pharmaceuticals began to...Ch. 14 - Prob. 22ECh. 14 - Coyle Pharmaceuticals produces two organic...Ch. 14 - Prob. 24ECh. 14 - Which of the following quality costs is an...Ch. 14 - Which of the following would be a hidden quality...Ch. 14 - Using the Taguchi quality loss function, an...Ch. 14 - Environmental costs are those costs incurred...Ch. 14 - Two products, Product A and Product B, are...Ch. 14 - Kathy Shorts, president of Oliver Company, was...Ch. 14 - Panguitch Company manufactures a component for...Ch. 14 - Gaston Company manufactures furniture. One of its...Ch. 14 - Classify the following quality costs as...Ch. 14 - Wayne Johnson, president of Banshee Company,...Ch. 14 - Recently, Ulrich Company received a report from an...Ch. 14 - In 20x5, Major Company initiated a full-scale,...Ch. 14 - Paper Products Division produces paper diapers,...Ch. 14 - In 2011, Milton Thayne, president of Carbondale...Ch. 14 - Iona Company, a large printing company, is in its...Ch. 14 - Prob. 40PCh. 14 - The following items are listed in an environmental...Ch. 14 - Refer to Problem 14.41. In the environmental...Ch. 14 - The following environmental cost reports for 20x3,...Ch. 14 - Refer to Problem 14.43. In 20x3, Jack Carter,...
Knowledge Booster
Learn more about
Need a deep-dive on the concept behind this application? Look no further. Learn more about this topic, accounting and related others by exploring similar questions and additional content below.Similar questions
- In 20X1, Don Blackburn, president of Price Electronics, received a report indicating that quality costs were 31% of sales. Faced with increasing pressures from imported goods. Don resolved to take measures to improve the overall quality of the companys products. After hiring a consultant in 20X1, the company began an aggressive program of total quality control. At the end of 20X5, Don requested an analysis of the progress the company had made in reducing and controlling quality costs. The accounting department assembled the following data: Required: 1. Compute the quality costs as a percentage of sales by category and in total for each year. 2. Prepare a multiple-year trend graph for quality costs, both by total costs and by category. Using the graph, assess the progress made in reducing and controlling quality costs. Does the graph provide evidence that quality has improved? Explain. 3. Using the 20X1 quality cost relationships (assume all costs are variable), calculate the quality costs that would have prevailed in 20X4. By how much did profits increase in 20X4 because of the quality improvement program? Repeat for 20X5.arrow_forwardAbernathy, Inc., produces two different generators and is concerned about their quality. The company has identified the following quality activities and costs associated with the two products: Required: 1. Calculate the quality cost per unit for each product, and break this unit cost into quality cost categories. Which of the two seems to have the lowest quality? 2. How might a manager use the unit quality cost information?arrow_forwardBased on the 2015 survey, Amanda Westerly believed that Osborn had to improve product quality. In making her case to Osborn management, how might Westerly have estimated the opportunity cost of not implementing the quality-improvement program?arrow_forward
- he comptroller wants to set the standards according to a study done by a consulting firm for a company. The consulting firm used the following assumptions: The machines never break down. Workers never take a break. The material used is perfect. The material arrives on time. No one takes a day off. Workers are well trained. Workers do not make defective units. What kinds of standards are these? Will the workers be motivated to achieve these standards?arrow_forwardSuppose that Adriana’s decision was prompted mostly by the desire to receivethe computer quickly. Informed that it was losing sales because of the longertime to produce and deliver its products, the management of the company producing Drantex decided to improve delivery performance by improving its internal processes. These improvements decreased the number of defective units andthe time required to produce its product. Consequently, delivery time and costsboth decreased, and the company was able to lower its prices on Drantex.Explain how these actions translate into strengthening the competitive positionof the Drantex PC relative to the Confiar PC. Also discuss the implications forthe management accounting information system.arrow_forwardClassify the following quality costs as prevention, appraisal, internal failure, or external failure. Also, label each cost as variable or fixed with respect to sales volume. 1. Quality engineering 2. Scrap 3. Product recalls 4. Returns and allowances because of quality problems 5. Sales data re-entered because of keying errors 6. Supervision of in-process inspection 7. Quality circles 8. Component inspection and testing 9. Quality training 10. Reinspection of reworked product 11. Product liability 12. Internal audit assessing the effectiveness of quality system 13. Disposal of defective product 14. Downtime attributable to quality problems 15. Quality reporting 16. Proofreading 17. Correction of typing errors 18. In-process inspection 19. Process controls 20. Pilot studiesarrow_forward
- Aaron McKinney is a cost accountant for Majik Systems Inc. Martin Dodd, Vice President of Marketing, has asked Aaron to meet with representatives of Majik Systems major competitor to discuss product cost data. Martin indicates that the sharing of these data will enable Majik Systems to determine a fair and equitable price for its products. Would it be ethical for Aaron to attend the meeting and share the relevant cost data? Explain your answer.arrow_forwardMoisha is developing material standards for her company. The operations manager wants grade A widgets because they are the easiest to work with and are the quality the customers want. Grade B will not work because customers do not want the lower grade, and it takes more time to assemble the product than with grade A materials. Moisha calls several suppliers to get prices for the widget. All are within $0.05 of each other. Since they will use millions of widgets, she decides that the $0.05 difference is important. The supplier who has the lowest price is known for delivering late and low-quality materials. Moisha decides to use the supplier who is $0.02 more but delivers on time and at the right quality. This supplier charges $0.48 per widget. Each unit of product requires four widgets. What is the standard cost per unit for widgets?arrow_forwardJohn Thomas, vice president of Mallett Company (a producer of a variety of plastic products), has been supervising the implementation of an ABC management system. John wants to improve process efficiency by improving the activities that define the processes. To illustrate the potential of the new system to the president, John has decided to focus on two processes: production and customer service. Within each process, one activity will be selected for improvement: materials usage for production and sustaining engineering for customer service (sustaining engineers are responsible for redesigning products based on customer needs and feedback). Value-added standards are identified for each activity. For materials usage, the value-added standard calls for six pounds per unit of output (the products differ in shape and function, but their weight is uniform). The value-added standard is based on the elimination of all waste due to defective molds. The standard price of materials is 5 per pound. For sustaining engineering, the standard is 58% of current practical activity capacity. This standard is based on the fact that about 42% of the complaints have to do with design features that could have been avoided or anticipated by the company. Current practical capacity (at the end of 20X1) is defined by the following requirements: 6,000 engineering hours for each product group that has been on the market or in development for 5 years or less and 2,400 hours per product group of more than 5 years. Four product groups have less than 5 years experience, and 10 product groups have more. Each of the 24 engineers is paid a salary of 60,000. Each engineer can provide 2,000 hours of service per year. No other significant costs are incurred for the engineering activity. Actual materials usage for 20X1 was 25% above the level called for by the value-added standard; engineering usage was 46,000 hours. A total of 80,000 units of output were produced. John and the operational managers have selected some improvement measures that promise to reduce nonvalue-added activity usage by 40% in 20X2. Selected actual results achieved for 20X2 are as follows: The actual prices paid for materials and engineering hours are identical to the standard or budgeted prices. Required: 1. For 20X1, calculate the nonvalue-added usage and costs for materials usage and sustaining engineering. 2. CONCEPTUAL CONNECTION Using the budgeted improvements, calculate the expected activity usage levels for 20X2. Now, compute the 20X2 usage variances (the difference between the expected and actual values), expressed in both physical and financial measures, for materials and engineering. Comment on the companys ability to achieve its targeted reductions. In particular, discuss what measures the company must take to capture any realized reductions in resource usage.arrow_forward
- Kathy Shorts, president of Oliver Company, was concerned with the trend in sales and profitability. The company had been losing customers at an alarming rate. Furthermore, the company was barely breaking even. Investigation revealed that poor quality was at the root of the problem. At the end of 20x5, Kathy decided to begin a quality improvement program. As a first step, she identified the following costs in the accounting records as quality related: Required: 1. Prepare a quality cost report by quality cost category. 2. Calculate the relative distribution percentages for each quality cost category. Comment on the distribution. 3. Using the Taguchi loss function, an average loss per unit is computed to be 15 per unit. What are the hidden costs of external failure? How does this affect the relative distribution? 4. Shortss quality manager decided not to bother with the hidden costs. What do you think was his reasoning? Any efforts to reduce measured external failure costs will also reduce the hidden costs. Do you agree or disagree? Explain.arrow_forwardAuflegger, Inc., manufactures a product that experiences the following activities (and times): Required: 1. Compute the MCE for this product. 2. A study lists the following root causes of the inefficiencies: poor quality components from suppliers, lack of skilled workers, and plant layout. Suggest a possible cost reduction strategy, expressed as a series of if-then statements that will reduce MCE and lower costs. Finally, prepare a strategy map that illustrates the causal paths. In preparing the map, use only three perspectives: learning and growth, process, and financial. 3. Is MCE a lag or a lead measure? If and when MCE acts as a lag measure, what lead measures would affect it?arrow_forwardWhich of the following would be a hidden quality cost? a. Inspecting and testing prototypes b. Repairing a computer still under warranty c. Stopping work to correct process malfunction (discovered using statistical process control procedures) d. Lost market share due to poor product performancearrow_forward
arrow_back_ios
SEE MORE QUESTIONS
arrow_forward_ios
Recommended textbooks for you
Cornerstones of Cost Management (Cornerstones Ser...AccountingISBN:9781305970663Author:Don R. Hansen, Maryanne M. MowenPublisher:Cengage Learning
Principles of Accounting Volume 2AccountingISBN:9781947172609Author:OpenStaxPublisher:OpenStax College
Managerial Accounting: The Cornerstone of Busines...AccountingISBN:9781337115773Author:Maryanne M. Mowen, Don R. Hansen, Dan L. HeitgerPublisher:Cengage Learning
Managerial AccountingAccountingISBN:9781337912020Author:Carl Warren, Ph.d. Cma William B. TaylerPublisher:South-Western College Pub
Cornerstones of Cost Management (Cornerstones Ser...
Accounting
ISBN:9781305970663
Author:Don R. Hansen, Maryanne M. Mowen
Publisher:Cengage Learning
Principles of Accounting Volume 2
Accounting
ISBN:9781947172609
Author:OpenStax
Publisher:OpenStax College
Managerial Accounting: The Cornerstone of Busines...
Accounting
ISBN:9781337115773
Author:Maryanne M. Mowen, Don R. Hansen, Dan L. Heitger
Publisher:Cengage Learning
Managerial Accounting
Accounting
ISBN:9781337912020
Author:Carl Warren, Ph.d. Cma William B. Tayler
Publisher:South-Western College Pub
Inspection and Quality control in Manufacturing. What is quality inspection?; Author: Educationleaves;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ey4MqC7Kp7g;License: Standard youtube license