Definition of quality control

quality control

the implementation of all practices and policies
designed to eliminate poor quality and variability in the
production or service process; it places the primary responsibility
for quality at the source of the product or service

appraisal cost

a quality control cost incurred for monitoring
or inspection; compensates for mistakes not eliminated
through prevention activities

failure cost

a quality control cost associated with goods or
services that have been found not to conform or perform
to the required standards as well as all related costs (such
as that of the complaint department); it may be internal or
external

inspection time

the time taken to perform quality control activities

total quality management (TQM)

a structural system for creating organization-wide participation in planning and implementing a continuous improvement process that exceeds
the expectations of the customer/client; the application
of quality principles to all company endeavors; it is also known as total quality control

control premium

the additional value inherent in the control interest as contrasted to a minority interest, which reflects its power of control

DLOC (discount for lack of control)

an amount or percentage deducted from a pro rata share of the value of 100% of an equity interest in a business, to reflect the absence of some or all of the powers of control.

Control

50% of the outstanding votes plus one vote.

Controlled disbursement

A service that provides for a single presentation of checks each day (typically in
the early part of the day).

Controlled foreign corporation (CFC)

A foreign corporation whose voting stock is more than 50% owned
by U.S. stockholders, each of whom owns at least 10% of the voting power.

Controller

The corporate manager responsible for the firm's accounting activities.

Dupont system of financial control

Highlights the fact that return on assets (ROA) can be expressed in terms
of the profit margin and asset turnover.

Exchange controls

Governmental restrictions on the purchase of foreign currencies by domestic citizens or
on the purchase of the local domestic currency by foreigners.

Financial control

The management of a firm's costs and expenses in order to control them in relation to
budgeted amounts.

Flight to quality

The tendency of investors to move towards safer, government bonds during periods of high
economic uncertainty.

Foreign exchange controls

Various forms of controls imposed by a government on the purchase/sale of
foreign currencies by residents or on the purchase/sale of local currency by nonresidents.

Quality option

Also called the swap option, the seller's choice of deliverables in Treasury Bond and Treasury
note futures contract. Related: cheapest to deliver issue

Quality spread

Also called credit spread, the spread between Treasury securities and non-Treasury securities
that are identical in all respects except for quality rating. For instance, the difference between yields on
Treasuries and those on single A-rated industrial bonds.

Risk controlled arbitrage

A self-funding, self-hedged series of transactions that generally utilize mortgage
securities as the primary assets.

Budgetary control

The process of ensuring that actual financial results are in line with targets – see variance
analysis.

Controllable profit

The profit made by a division after deducting only those expenses that can be controlled by the
divisional manager and ignoring those expenses that are outside the divisional manager’s control.

Cost control

The process of either reducing costs while maintaining the same level of productivity or maintaining costs while increasing productivity.

Cost of quality

The difference between the actual costs of production, selling and service and the costs that would be incurred if there were no failures during production or usage of products or services.

Control account

An account maintained in the general ledger that holds the balance without the detail. The detail is maintained in a subsidiary ledger.

internal accounting controls

Refers to forms used and procedures
established by a business—beyond what would be required for the
record-keeping function of accounting—that are designed to prevent
errors and fraud. Two examples of internal controls are (1) requiring a
second signature by someone higher in the organization to approve a
transaction in excess of a certain dollar amount and (2) giving customers
printed receipts as proof of sale. Other examples of internal
control procedures are restricting entry and exit routes of employees,
requiring all employees to take their vacations and assigning another
person to do their jobs while they are away, surveillance cameras, surprise
counts of cash and inventory, and rotation of duties. Internal controls
should be cost-effective; the cost of a control should be less than
the potential loss that is prevented. The guiding principle for designing
internal accounting controls is to deter and detect errors and dishonesty.
The best internal controls in the world cannot prevent most fraud
by high-level managers who take advantage of their positions of trust
and authority.

management control

This is difficult to define in a few words—indeed, an
entire chapter is devoted to the topic (Chapter 17). The essence of management
control is “keeping a close watch on everything.” Anything can
go wrong and get out of control. Management control can be thought of
as the follow-through on decisions to ensure that the actual outcomes
happen according to purposes and goals of the management decisions
that set things in motion. Managers depend on feedback control reports
that contain very detailed information. The level of detail and range of
information in these control reports is very different from the summarylevel
information reported in external income statements.

accepted quality level (AQL)

the maximum limit for the number of defects or errors in a process

control chart

a graphical presentation of the results of a
specified activity; it indicates the upper and lower control
limits and those results that are out of control

controllable cost

a cost over which a manager has the ability to authorize incurrence or directly influence magnitude

controllable variance

the budget variance of the two variance approach to analyzing overhead variances

controller

the chief accountant (in a corporation) who is responsible
for maintaining and reporting on both the cost
and financial sets of accounts but does not handle or negotiate
changes in actual resources

controlling

the process of exerting managerial influence on
operations so that they conform to previously prepared plans

cost control system

a logical structure of formal and/or informal
activities designed to analyze and evaluate how well
expenditures are managed during a period

internal control

any measure used by management to protect
assets, promote the accuracy of records, ensure adherence
to company policies, or promote operational efficiency;
the totality of all internal controls represents the
internal control system

management control system (MCS)

an information system that helps managers gather information about actual organizational occurrences, make comparisons against plans,
effect changes when they are necessary, and communicate
among appropriate parties; it should serve to guide organizations
in designing and implementing strategies so that
organizational goals and objectives are achieved

noncontrollable variance

the fixed overhead volume variance;
it is computed as part of the two-variance approach to overhead analysis

process quality yield

the proportion of good units that resulted from the activities expended

quality

all the characteristics of a product or service that
make it able to meet the stated or implied needs of the
buyer; it relates to both performance and value; the pride
of workmanship; it is conformance to requirements

quality assurance

the process of determining that product
or service quality conforms to designated specifications
usually through an inspection process

quality audit

a review of product design activities (although
not for individual products), manufacturing processes and controls, quality documentation and records, and management philosophy

statistical process control (SPC)

the use of control techniques that are based on the theory that a process has natural variations in it over time, but uncommon variations
are typically the points at which the process produces "errors", which can be defective goods or poor service

controller

Officer responsible for budgeting, accounting, and auditing.

Wage/Price Controls

An incomes policy in which wages and prices are constrained by law not to rise by more than a specified percentage.

Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986

A federal Act requiring all employers having at least four employees to verify the identity and employment
eligibility of all regular, temporary, casual, and student employees.

Configuration control

Verifying that a delivered product matches authorizing
engineering documentation. This also refers to engineering changes made subsequent
to the initial product release.

Cutoff control

A procedure for ensuring that transaction processing is completed
before the commencement of cycle counting.

Shelf life control

Deliberate usage of the oldest items first, in order to avoid exceeding
a component or product’s shelf life.

Visual control

The visual inspection of inventory levels, enabled by the use of
designated locations and standard containers.

BONDPAR

A system that monitors and evaluates the performance of a fixed-income portfolio , as well as the
individual securities held in the portfolio. BONDPAR decomposes the return into those elements beyond the
manager's control--such as the interest rate environment and client-imposed duration policy constraints--and
those that the management process contributes to, such as interest rate management, sector/quality allocations,
and individual bond selection.

critical success factors (CSF)

any item (such as quality, customer
service, efficiency, cost control, or responsiveness
to change) so important that, without it, the organization
would cease to exist

defective unit

a unit that has been rejected at a control inspection
point for failure to meet appropriate standards of
quality or designated product specifications; can be economically
reworked and sold through normal distribution channels

ISO 9000

a comprehensive series of international quality standards
that define the various design, material procurement,
production, quality-control, and delivery requirements and
procedures necessary to produce quality products and services

spoiled unit

a unit that is rejected at a control inspection
point for failure to meet appropriate standards of quality
or designated product specifications; it cannot be economically
reworked to be brought up to standard

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