Accounting and Finance
REA or resources, events, agents (REA), was originally proposed in 1982 by William E. McCarthy as a generalized accounting model, is a model of how an accounting system can be re-engineered for the computer age. It also contained the concepts of resources, events and agents.
It is also a popular model in teaching accounting information systems and can also add value when modelling current ERP business processes by providing a tool that increases the understanding of the implementation and underlying data model. It also gets rid of many accounting objects which are not necessary in the computer age. It also treats the accounting system as a virtual representation of the actual business i.e. it creates computer objects that directly represent real-world-business objects. The model is an ontology in computer science terms and the real objects included in this model are:
1. goods, services or money, i.e., resources
2. business transactions or agreements which affect resources, i.e., events
3. people or other human agencies, i.e., agents.