Accounting Information Systems, 13e (Romney/Steinbart)
Chapter 18 Implementing an REA Model in a Relational Database
18.1 Integrate separate REA diagrams for individual business cycles into a single,
comprehensive organization-wide REA diagram.
1) Integrating separate REA diagrams developed for individual transaction cycles into a single,
comprehensive enterprise-wide data model
A) is possible.
B) requires understanding what the cardinalities in each separate diagram reveal about the
organization’s business policies and activities.
C) provides a single comprehensive enterprise-wide model of the organization.
D) All of the above are true.
2) An integrated REA diagram merges multiple copies of ________ and ________ entities but
retains multiple copies of ________ entities.
A) resource; event; agent
B) event; agent; resource
C) resource; agent; event
D) None of the above. An integrated REA diagram merges multiple copies of all entities.
3) An integrated REA diagram could contain multiple copies of
A) customers.
B) sales.
C) inventory.
D) sales-inventory.
4) An integrated REA diagram merges multiple copies of some entities in order to
A) minimize the repetition of agent entities.
B) maximize the legibility of the diagram by avoiding the need to have relationship lines cross
one another.
C) Both A and B are true.
D) Both A and B are false.
5) Combining REA diagrams for individual transaction cycles into a single, enterprise-wide
model adds two more rules to the three basic principles for drawing REA diagrams. Which of the
following is not one of those two new rules?
A) Every resource must be linked to at least one event that increments that resource and to at
least one event that decrements that resource.
B) If a specific event can be linked to more than one other type of event, but cannot be linked
simultaneously to all of those other events, then the minimum cardinality between that event and
every other event with which it may be associated must be 0.
C) If a specific event can be linked to more than one other type of event, but cannot be linked
simultaneously to all of those other events, then the maximum cardinality between that event and
every other event with which it may be associated must be 0.
D) All of the above are new rules for drawing integrated REA diagrams.
6) Which of the following statements is not true with regards to a correctly drawn enterprise-
wide REA diagram?
A) Every event must be linked to at least one resource.
B) Merging two transaction cycles on a common event may affect the minimum cardinalities
between the merged event and the other events.
C) Events can only be merged if they share the same resources and events.
D) Creating a set of tables from an REA diagram automatically results in a well-structured
relational database.
7) Which of the below statements is false with respect to REA diagrams for individual
transaction cycles?
A) They depict basic give-to-get economic duality relationships.
B) They usually provide only a partial view of resources.
C) They need to be combined in order to provide a comprehensive enterprise-wide data model.
D) They show both how resources are acquired and how they are used.
8) Which of the statements below is false with respect to enterprise-wide REA diagrams?
A) Merging two or more REA diagrams that contain the same resource entity does not require
any changes to the cardinality pairs in the individual diagrams.
B) Merging two or more diagrams that contain a common event entity, however, often requires
changing the minimum cardinalities associated with the other events to 0, to reflect the fact that
the merged event may be connected to any one of several different events, but not to all of them
simultaneously.
C) The minimum cardinalities associated with agents may also have to be changed to 0.
D) All of the above are true.
9) When combining two REA diagrams by merging common entities, changes in the cardinality
of the merged entity is needed when it is a(n)
A) agent.
B) event.
C) relationship.
D) resource.
10) Integrating separate REA diagrams into a single comprehensive enterprise-wide model of the
organization requires understanding what the ________ in each separate diagram reveal about
the organization’s business policies and activities.
A) cardinalities
B) data
C) events
D) transactions
11) When integrating separate REA diagrams,
A) common resources are placed between the events that affect them.
B) each resource is connected to two agents.
C) resources are duplicated to show the give and get of economic duality relationships.
D) resources are merged if both events in the stockflow relationship are modeled.
12) Which entity is most likely to be part of both the revenue cycle and the expenditure cycle?
A) Receive Goods
B) Customer
C) Receive Cash
D) Inventory
13) Which entity is most likely to be part of both the payroll cycle and the expenditure cycle?
A) Receive Goods
B) Customer
C) Disburse Cash
D) Inventory
14) Which entity is most likely to be part of both the payroll cycle and the revenue cycle?
A) Cash
B) Customer
C) Receive Goods
D) Inventory
15) Which entity is most likely to be part of the payroll cycle, expenditure cycle, and the revenue
cycle?
A) Customer
B) Cash
C) Supplier
D) Inventory
16) Which of the following is a redundant entity that would be merged when two cycles are
combined?
A) Customer
B) Employee
C) Vendor
D) Inventory
17) In an integrated REA diagram, every event must be linked to
A) at least two resources.
B) at least two agents.
C) at least one other event.
D) at least two other events.
18) In an integrated REA diagram, every resource must be must be linked to
A) at least two events.
B) at least two agents.
C) at least one other resource.
D) at least two other resources.
19) In an integrated REA diagram, every agent must be must be linked to
A) at least one resource.
B) at least two resources.
C) at least one event.
D) at least two events.
20) Explain the five rules for drawing integrated REA diagrams.
21) When integrating multiple REA diagrams into an integrated REA diagram, merging
redundant resources
A) always affects minimum cardinalities associated with the merged event.
B) sometimes affects minimum cardinalities associated with the merged event.
C) never affects minimum cardinalities associated with the merged event.
D) none of the above
22) In an REA diagram, resource entities
A) can be linked to event entities in Business Cycle A and to event entities in Business Cycle B.
B) cannot be linked to event entities in Business Cycle A and to event entities in Business Cycle
B.
C) cannot be linked to agent entities.
D) none of the above
23) When integrating multiple REA diagrams into an integrated REA diagram, to merge an event
that appears in both business cycle REA diagrams,
A) the event that appears in both business cycle REA diagrams may be linked to either an event
that is part of one business cycle or to an event that is part of another business cycle.
B) the event that appears in both business cycle REA diagrams may be linked to an event that is
part of one business cycle and to an event that is part of another business cycle.
C) One cannot merge an event that appears in both business cycles.
D) none of the above
18.2 Build a set of tables to implement an REA model of an AIS in a relational database.
1) The primary key for a Purchase-Inventory table that consists of the Purchase Order Number
and the Inventory Item Number, is known as a
A) concatenated key.
B) foreign key
C) primary key.
D) dual key.
2) When using an REA diagram to develop a database, a many-to-many relationship must be
A) broken into two, one-to-one relationships.
B) combined into a single one-to-one relationship.
C) combined into a one-to–many relationship.
D) broken into two, one-to-many relationships.
3) The type of relationship between two entities is determined by
A) maximum cardinalities only.
B) minimum cardinalities only.
C) minimum and maximum cardinalities.
D) median cardinalities.
4) Which of the following is not one of the steps in implementing an REA diagram in a relational
database?
A) Implement many-to-many relationships with foreign keys.
B) Create tables for entities.
C) Assign attributes to tables and identify primary keys.
D) Implement one-to-many relationships with foreign keys.
5) Which of the following is not one of the three steps to implementing an REA diagram in a
relational database?
A) Assign attributes to appropriate tables.
B) Create a table for each distinct entity in the diagram and for each many-to-many relationship.
C) Link every event to at least one resource.
D) Use foreign keys to implement one-to-one and one-to-many relationships.
6) Why might the same REA diagram result in different relationship cardinalities?
A) Different organizations might have different business policies.
B) Different designers might implement an REA diagram differently.
C) Different consultants might draw an REA diagram differently.
D) Errors occur in the REA diagram.
7) What is the first step to implementing an REA diagram in a relational database?
A) Assign attributes to appropriate tables.
B) Create a table for each distinct entity in the diagram and for each many-to-many relationship.
C) Identify cardinalities.
D) Use foreign keys to implement one-to-one and one-to-many relationships.
8) Which of the following is true with regards to REA diagrams and relational databases?
A) A well-designed relational database is the starting point for creating an REA diagram.
B) A well-designed REA diagram minimizes update, insert or delete anomaly problem when the
diagram is implemented into a relational database.
C) REA diagrams and database design are generic across organizations.
D) The design of a relational database is specific to the organization being modeled.
9) Which of the following is false with regards to creating database tables from an REA
diagram?
A) A properly designed relational database has a table for each distinct entity in an REA
diagram.
B) A properly designed relational database has a table for each many-to-many relationship in an
REA diagram.
C) To reduce confusion, table names should not duplicate REA diagram entities’ names.
D) Many-to-many relationships will be shown in tables with hyphenated concatenations of the
entities’ names.
10) When assigning attributes to each table,
A) the database designer must interview users to identify which facts should be included in the
database.
B) the database designer must interview management to identify which facts should be included
in the database.
C) the database designer must use the REA diagram to help determine in which tables those facts
belong.
D) the database designer must do all of the above.
11) The primary key for M:N relationship tables
A) is a single attribute.
B) always consists of two attributes.
C) is the primary key of the most important entity linked to that relationship.
D) does not exist. Many-to-many relationship tables only use foreign keys.
12) Attributes other than the primary key are
A) included to satisfy transaction processing requirements.
B) included to meet management’s information needs.
C) both A and B
D) none of the above
13) Which of the statements below is false with regards to the tables for M:N relationships?
A) Non-key attributes may be included.
B) Multiple attribute primary keys are used.
C) Single attribute primary keys may be used.
D) Concatenated keys are used.
14) Which of the statements below is false with regards to creating database tables from an REA
diagram?
A) M:N relationships must be implemented as separate tables.
B) 1:N relationships are implemented with the primary key of the 1 side becoming a foreign key
on the N side.
C) 1:1 relationships are implemented with the primary key of either entity included as a foreign
key in the table representing the other entity.
D) All of the above are true.
15) Which of the following is not part of a “final accuracy check” when creating relational tables
from an REA diagram?
A) Every attribute in every table is single-valued (i.e., each table is a flat file).
B) Every event must be linked to at least one resource.
C) Every table must have a primary key.
D) Other non-key attributes in each table must be either a fact about the thing designated by the
primary key or foreign keys used to link that table to another table.
16) Concatenated keys are
A) only needed when combining two or more REA diagrams.
B) foreign keys used to implement 1:N or 1:1 relationships.
C) multiple attribute keys used to implement 1:N relationships.
D) required to implement M:N relationships.
17) How many tables are needed to implement an REA data model that has six distinct entities,
three M:N relationships and four 1:N relationships in a relational database?
A) 6
B) 9
C) 11
D) 13
18) How many tables are needed to implement an REA data model that has five distinct entities,
two M:N relationships and three 1:N relationships in a relational database?
A) 5
B) 7
C) 8
D) 10
19) Which table is most likely to have a concatenated key?
A) customer
B) sales
C) customer-sales
D) accounts receivable
20) In which of the following cases is the number of tables required to represent the relationship
equal to three?
A)
B)
C)
D)
21) In which of the following cases is the relationship between entities not implemented by
foreign keys?
A)
B)
C)
D)
22) Which of the following attributes would typically be included in the table that stores data
about the Customer entity in a relational database?
A) Invoice number
B) Credit limit
C) Product code
D) Backorder
23) In a relational database, which of the following attributes would typically be included in the
table that stores data about the Vendor entity?
A) Invoice number
B) Outstanding balance
C) Product code
D) Inventory
24) In a relational database, which of the following attributes would typically be represented by a
foreign key in the table that stores data about a Receive Inventory entity?
A) Purchase order number
B) Payment terms
C) Product code
D) Date
25) In a relational database, which of the following attributes would typically be represented by a
foreign key in the table that stores data about a Disburse Cash entity?
A) Amount
B) Date
C) Vendor number
D) Product number