Quality Management System and the Role of Accounting in Portuguese SME

Abstract

Purpose: Despite the associations of the quality movement with the certification of quality management systems (QMS), these by themselves are not sufficient to ensure the competitiveness of organizations, namely if the implementation and the certification is due to external motivations. Considering the growing scarcity of resources and increased competition, now on a global scale, organizations, and particularly small and medium enterprises (SMEs), need to be more efficient, measuring and improving their performance. Thus, the existence of a QMS directed to the continuous improvement of procedures and processes and customer satisfaction, and the existence of an accounting system that, in addition to ensuring compliance with legal requirements, have the ability to produce timely and relevant information to support the decision process, can make the difference between discontinuation and progress of SMEs. In this context, this study aims to study the positioning of Portuguese SMEs with relation to the QMS and to investigate their use of accounting as an information system for management.

Methodology/Approach: Data were collected through a questionnaire sent to a thousand companies.

Findings: The results show that although the respondents recognize the importance of quality management and the role of accounting in the management of their companies, in practice they make a poor use of basic tools and techniques of quality. With relation to the use of the accounting system, the overwhelming majority of managers of SMEs still puts first the fulfillment of tax obligations and other legal requirements.

Research limitations: The main limitations is related with the use of the survey method, mainly in terms of generalizability of results, despite our concerns about the purpose and design of the survey, the population definition and sampling, the survey questions, the accuracy of the data entry and the disclosure and reporting.

Originality/Value of paper: The study stresses the importance of quality management and the role of accounting in the decision process and that Portuguese SME’s should further explore their potential through the use of more advanced techniques which are likely to create value to the information system and to support a strategy of quality management.