Towards a Reference Ontology of Complex Economic Exchanges for Accounting Information Systems

Although the field of Accounting Information Systems (AIS) has a long tradition, there is still a lack of a widely adopted conceptualization. The Unified Foundational Ontology (UFO) and its Services sub-ontology (UFO-S) are regarded as grounding the engineering of a reference ontology for AIS. The new International Accounting Standards Board Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting is used as a main source of the domain knowledge, and a reference ontology of complex economic exchanges (EXP) for AIS is proposed. EXP includes offered, agreed, partial, realization, and settlement economic exchange conceptual models. The economic exchanges affect enterprise economic resources and claims against the enterprise that are represented by economic relators including offerings, agreements, (unconditional, in process and residual) obligations and property rights. The model is an important step towards the development of a Core ontology for AIS.