The integration of process management and accounting is long overdue. We present a process accounting model (PAM) that can be used to structure event records in process-aware information systems (PAIS) to enable process-oriented accounting. The PAM is specified as a light-weight data structure that is intended for the integration of PAIS and accounting information systems. PAM enables to align process management and accounting in practice, i.e. by building on a shared set of integrated data.

1. © Christian Sonnenberg and Jan vom Brocke
PAM - THE PROCESS ACCOUNTING
MODEL. USING EVENT DATA TO
BRIDGE THE GAP BETWEEN PROCESS
MANAGEMENT AND ACCOUNTING

2. © Christian Sonnenberg and Jan vom Brocke
About This Work
 This work is based on academic research published as:
Sonnenberg, C., & vom Brocke, J. (2014). The Missing Link Between BPM
and Accounting: Using Event Data for Accounting in Process-oriented
Organizations. Business Process Management Journal (BPMJ), 20(2), 213-
246.
 You can access the full study
via:http://my.uni.li/i3v/publikationen/00065700/04048767.PDF
 Please feel free to use any of the material in these slides with reference
to the original source.

3. © Christian Sonnenberg and Jan vom Brocke
Management Summary
▪ This work shows integrate business process management (BPM) and
accounting on a conceptual level
▪ It is based on a PhD project
▪ Integration of BPM and accounting is achieved though:
◦ Proposal of a Process Accounting Model (PAM) facilitating the
◦ Capturing of disaggregated event data in a business process context,
◦ Tracing inflows and outflows of economic resources through event data, and
◦ Linking economic events to accounts (traditional bookkeeping) though
account posting documents
Keywords: Event-Driven BPM, Accounting, REA, Business Process Analysis

4. © Christian Sonnenberg and Jan vom Brocke
Main Result (1/3)
Fig. 1 The Process Accounting Model (PAM) (Sonnenberg & vom Brocke et al., 2014, p.
228)
Event
Type
IS A
Business Event
Type
Economic Event
Type
IS A
instantiation
Event IS A Business Event Economic EventIS A
instantiation instantiation
Policy and Planning
Level
What could or
what should be?
Operational Level
What has occurred or
has been committed to?
Organizational context
BPM context
Accounting context
Business Activity
start end
start end
Business Activity
Type
Commitment
Type
Commitment
instantiation
duality
duality
duality
duality
specify
fulfills

5. © Christian Sonnenberg and Jan vom Brocke
Main Result (2/3)
Fig. 2 PAM extension for double-entry bookkeeping (Sonnenberg & vom Brocke et al.,
2014, p. 236)
Economic Event
Increment
Economic Event
D,T
Decrement
Economic Event
Economic
Transaction
det_assign
iet_assign
1,1
1,1
1,n
1,n
Economic
Resource
stockflow
1,1 1,n
Accounting
Document Type
Accounting
Document
Header
Accounting
Document Item
Time
belongs to
1,n
1,1
assign
1,1
0,n
Account
posting
1,n
1,n
PAM extension for
double-entry bookkeeping
PAM
Account
structure
1,n
1,1
1,nevent
assign
0,1
transaction
governed
by
0,n
0,n

6. © Christian Sonnenberg and Jan vom Brocke
Main Result (3/3)
▪ Design principles of the PAM:
◦ (1) Data disaggregation: capture event data in as disaggregated form as
possible so that event data can be used in as many decisions situations as
possible.
◦ (2) Event classification: allows for evaluating event data along multiple
dimensions in accordance with particular decision-making needs.
◦ (3) Process relatedness: business event data has to refer to the process
context in which a business event occurred or is planned to occur in order to
facilitate reasoning about event dependencies that are determined by
underlying process structures
◦ (4) Economic reciprocity: captures the essence of any economic activity, i.e.
for every resource that is obtained, one or more resources are usually
sacrificed in return. This “give-and-take” pattern materializes in so called
economic transactions, which happen in the course of business process
executions.

7. © Christian Sonnenberg and Jan vom Brocke
Important Concepts (1/2)
▪ Business event
◦ A business event denotes an event that management wants to plan, monitor,
and evaluate.
◦ An observer perceives the occurrence of a business event as quasi-
instantaneous, so business events have no duration.
▪ Economic event
◦ An economic event is an event that denotes a change in the availability of
economic resources under the control of some economic agent or
organizational unit.
◦ An observer perceives the occurrence of an economic event as quasi-
instantaneous, this is, economic events have no duration. Therefore, an
economic event is a special business event that an organization wants to plan,
monitor, and control for the purpose of accounting.

8. © Christian Sonnenberg and Jan vom Brocke
Important Concepts (2/2)
▪ Business process
◦ A business processes is a collection of business events that occur in the
course of achieving a business process result.
◦ In order account at least partially for the process’ economic rationale, a
business process must contain at least one economic event denoting the
achievement of the business process result (increase or decrease in a
resource).

9. © Christian Sonnenberg and Jan vom Brocke
Research Method
▪ Design science research (DSR) project: five years of multiple iterations
within the following DSR process*
◦ Scope and Justify –lack of a generalized information model for process-
oriented accounting
◦ Design and Evaluate – evolving specification of the PAM as the central IT
artefact
◦ Instantiate and Evaluate – instantiation of artefact versions and artefact
components by means of software prototypes for demonstrating their
applicability
◦ Use and Evaluate – engaging the artefact versions with real problems, real
users, and real systems
◦ Communicate – multiple research publications documenting the evolution of
the process accounting model
* Sonnenberg, C., & vom Brocke, J. (2012). Evaluations in the science of the artificial–
reconsidering the build-evaluate pattern in design science research. In Design Science
Research in Information Systems. Advances in Theory and Practice. Springer, 45–77.

10. © Christian Sonnenberg and Jan vom Brocke
Related Publications
Main publication of these slides
▪ Sonnenberg, C., & vom Brocke, J. (2014). The Missing Link Between BPM and
Accounting: Using Event Data for Accounting in Process-oriented Organizations.
Business Process Management Journal (BPMJ), 20(2), 213-246 (Download).
Further publications on the topic
▪ vom Brocke, J., Sonnenberg, C., & Baumöl, U. (2011). Linking accounting and
process-aware information systems – towards a generalized information model
for process-oriented accounting. Proceedings of the 19th European Conference
on Information Systems (ECIS 2011), Helsinki, Finland, 1-13 (Download).
▪ vom Brocke, J., & Sonnenberg, C. (2014). Process Management and Accounting -
An Overdue Take on Measuring the Economic Value of Business Processes.
BPTrends, March, 1-14 (Download).

11. © Christian Sonnenberg and Jan vom Brocke
Contact
Feel free to contact the authors in case of any related matter
▪ Prof. Dr. Jan vom Brocke, University of Liechtenstein, Institute of Information
Systems, jan.vom.brocke@uni.li, www.uni.li/jan.vom.brocke,
Twitter: @janvombrocke, Mail: jan.vom.brocke@uni.li
▪ Dr. Christian Sonnenberg, University of Liechtenstein, Institute of Information
Systems, christian.sonnenberg@uni.li, www.uni.li/christian.sonnenberg