Monitoring of Quality Costs in the Croatian Hotel Industry

Abstract

The implementation of a quality cost system in hotel industry management accounting enables an increase in competitiveness in the race to provide a better service adjusted to the needs of the guests. In order to be able to manage quality costs for the purpose of reducing the costs of non-quality, it is necessary to ensure a methodological basis for monitoring and assessment of the effects of managerial decisions on investments into total quality management systems, as well as get insight in the amount and structure of quality costs. The purpose of this survey, carried out in 2002, was to find out to what degree the preconditions for the implementation of quality cost accounting as part of management accounting, a subsystem of the management information system, have been ensured in the Croatian hotel industry. We conducted an extensive survey that included 41 business systems, i.e. 140 hotels (31.1% of the total number of hotels in Croatia). The sample included hoteliers from all more significant tourist destinations in Istria, Kvarner Region, Dalmatia, Zagreb and continental Croatia, thus ensuring a geographically balanced account of the observed area.