Travis Morgan Is the Chief Accountant for Hill Industries Evaluate the Three Divisions' Programs by First Computing the Costs

Essay

Travis Morgan is the chief accountant for Hill Industries. The company has three divisions that manufacture computer disk drives. The industry is very competitive, and Hill Industries has lost market share in each of the last four years. Three years ago, management announced a companywide restructuring and the adoption of total quality management. Since that time, each of the divisions has been allowed to chart its own path toward TQM. Travis Morgan is new to the company and has asked to see summary figures of the costs of quality for each of the divisions. The following data for the past six months were presented to him:
$\begin{array}{|l|l|l|l|l|}\hline &\text { L.A. County Division}& \text { Orange County Division}& \text { San Diego County Division}& \text { Company Totals}\\\hline \text { Sales } & \$ 1,125,000 & \$ 1,050,000 & \$ 1,200,000 & \$ 3,375,000 \\\hline \text { Appraisal costs } & \$ 18,640 & \$ 11,160 & \$ 18,900 & \$ 48,700 \\\hline \text { External failure costs } & 18,100 & 22,600 & 12,100 & \$ 2,800 \\\hline \text { Internal failure costs } & 16,400 & 21,900 & 14,300 & \$ 2,600 \\\hline \text { Prevention costs } & 16,660 & 10,140 & 28,100 & 54,900 \\\hline \text { Total costs of quality } & \$ 69,800 & \$ 65,800 & \$ 73,400 & \$ 209,000 \\\hline\end{array}$
Evaluate the three divisions' programs by first computing the costs of conformance and the costs of nonconformance of each division. Also compute quality costs as a percentage of sales for each division. Identify the division that is developing the strongest quality program. Which division has been slowest to react to the management directive of TQM? Defend your answers. Round percentages to three places beyond the decimal point.