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RELATIONAL DATABASES 21

Human Resource! Financing
Payroll Cycle Cycle

Labor
Cash Receipt
Acquisition

leash

Cash

Cash Cash
Revenue Expenditure
Cycle Disbursement Disbursement Cycle
cash!
Sale Purchase

Data

Cash Cash
Receipt Disbursement
CONVERSION (PRODUCTION) CYCLE
Finished Goods
Inventory

Finished Goods Materials

Labor Machine Material
Operation Operation Issurance

FIGURE 2-1 Overall REA Model for an Accounting Information System
Adapted from Romney, M. B. and P. J. Steinbart. 2006. Accounting Information Systems. 9th ed. Englewood Cliffs,
N. J.: Prentice Hall, p. 30.

columns much like a spreadsheet. Each table in a database represents either an entity or a
relationship between entities. Tables need' ·t~ be properly linked to one another to make a
relational database. The columns in a table are called fields and represent the attributes or
characteristics of the entity or relationship. The rows in a table are called records or tuples.
The records represent all the specific data values that are associated with one instance.
In Chapter 1, using an REA diagram, we created the data model for Cherokee's
revenue cycle. This data model is repeated in Figure 2-3.
When we convert an REA diagram to a database, each entity becomes a table, which
is a storage structure with rows and columns much like a spreadsheet. Therefore, accord-
ing to Figure 2-3, Cherokee's revenue cycle database consists of the following five tables:
Inventory Table, Cash Table, Sale Table, Cash Receipt Table, and Customer Table. Recall