Six Sigma is implemented to affect the bottom line. In a corporation, Six Sigma starts in operations then moves into design and finally supporting areas. Finance and accounting (F/A) functions are involved to monitor the financials, however, they aren’t involved in practicing Six Sigma. At Motorola, the F/A department was ones of the first to practice Six Sigma. Due to the nature of regulatory compliance, F/A departments have higher expectations for accuracy. However, improvement in F/A hasn’t been considered critical.

Six Sigma quickly brings a great deal of improvement. To improve from three-sigma to six-sigma performance levels requires more than 20,000—х improvement. Such improvement can’t happen without involving every department. In other words, Six Sigma means lots of changes and reengineering. As the pressure to improve profit margins grows, no department can afford to be excluded from Six Sigma implementation. Every department must assess its value contribution to the corporate performance. Recent studies report that businesses face the following changes or challenges in F/A departments:

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