BSI's ROI tool - Calculate your Return On Investment with ISO 9001



We know that building your business' reputation takes time, effort and plenty of hard work. We also know that having an ISO 9001 certified quality management system can enhance your credibility amongst both your suppliers and customers. And in a competitive market, that credibility can make a huge difference to the success of your business.

Now's the time to give your hard work the recognition it deserves and move your business up a gear.

Need more convincing?

Research* has shown that every £1 spent on a quality management system can:

  • Increase revenue by £6
  • Reduce costs by £16
  • Increase profits by £3

ISO 9001 can help you save and make money and BSI's unique return on investment calculator can show you how.

Find out more about ISO 9001 Quality Management
Find out more with the ISO 9001 ROI calculator brochure (PDF)
Need to know more? Read the ROI calculator FaQs
*CQI research 2012

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. How could ISO 9001 certification increase financial performance?

    By helping organizations reduce cost and increase revenues. It can reduce cost by reducing the number of defects, reducing waste, lowering warranty costs, improving staff motivation and productivity, reducing the number of incidents by taking preventive actions and solving problems more efficiently. ISO 9001 certification can increase revenues by opening new markets, winning more customers, increasing customer satisfaction, understanding customer needs better, developing new products and services that meet customer needs, reducing complaints and increasing the overall quality of service.

  2. What research was used in the development of the BSI Quality ROI Calculator?

    The research papers were written by independent academic institutions such as UCLA and Indiana State universities, and were published in industry journals such as the Journal of Business and Economic Research. Some studies looked at performance of companies before and after ISO 9001 certification and others looked at pairs of similar companies that matched in terms of size and profitability and then at the relative performance following the certification of one and not the other. Financial performance was then compared using a number of metrics, most notably return on sales (RoS) and return on assets (RoA).

  3. What is Return on Sales and Return on Asset?

    Return on Sales is Net Profit (after interest but before tax and dividend payments) divided by Revenue. In most companies, revenue means the same as Sales or Turnover. The Profit/Sales measure tells how much profit is being produced per unit of sale. Return on Asset is Net Profit (after interest but before tax and dividend payments) divided by Total Assets. Both measures are usually expressed as a percentage and measured over a full year.

  4. How do you calculate the benefit and the cost?

    Both benefits and costs are estimates. The cost of ISO 9001 certification is estimated by using the organization's number of employees which provides the estimated duration for assessments that would be completed by BSI in three years. For Return on Sales, academic studies suggest an average increase of 1.6 percentage points over three years. For Return on Asset an average increase of 1.2 percentage points is suggested over the three year certification cycle.

  5. How realistic and representative are these calculations?

    These numbers were calculated by using the averages of 5 different academic studies that studied approximately 2,500 companies in different industries and geographies.

  6. Does it mean that I will achieve this financial increase when I implement ISO 9001 in my organization?

    These results mean that if all other factors affecting your organization's financial performance remain unchanged and if your organization meets the requirements of ISO 9001, you might expect ISO 9001 certification to increase your financial performance.

  7. Is the implementation of a certified ISO 9001 quality management system the specific reason for the increase in profits?

    No but what we can say, from the research, is that there is a link between implementing a certified ISO 9001 and better profits. Every single paper on this topic that we have ever seen agrees with this! It is less clear whether certification makes companies perform better or simply that better companies seek certification but there is strong independent evidence that certification and better performance go together.