Activity-based costing concepts for quality improvement

This article shows how activity-based costing concepts can be adapted to measure quality-related costs and prioritize quality improvement efforts. It first reviews three levels of activity analysis that can be used to quantify the internal costs arising from failure to meet customer requirements. It then highlights how activity-based costing concepts can be extended to encompass quality-related costs arising from supplier deficiencies and the opportunity costs of lost sales due to quality problems.