Perceived semantic expressiveness of accounting systems and task accuracy effects

Abstract Semantic expressiveness refers to how well a model reflects the underlying reality the model represents. Prior research has claimed the REA (Resources-Events-Agents) accounting model is more semantically expressive than is the traditional DCA (Debit-Credit-Account) accounting model. This research demonstrates experimentally that users perceive REA as more semantically expressive than DCA. This study also demonstrates that, controlling for cognitive fit, accounting knowledge, and field dependence, higher perceived semantic expressiveness is associated with higher task accuracy.