SYNOPSIS:

Lack of clear reporting strategies has prevented the rapid adoption of 'events' based approaches in accounting. The massive amount of data managed by accounting systems precludes retention of detail. Intermediate summarizations of accounting 'events' are required. Intermediate summarizations must support specific classes of end-user decisions. But 'events' summarizations are subject to incomplete information costs that must be controlled at the time of design. This paper explores two methodologies for deriving intermediate summarizations that minimize these incomplete information costs. The first of these methodologies uses a Bayesian model: the second uses a "snapshot" database. In either approach, only new maintenance needs to be processed. This makes it possible to minimize incomplete information costs without incurring excessive processing costs. The research addresses obsolescence of summarized data as the activity base of the firm changes. It continues by developing an optimal stopping rule for "refreshing" a "snapshot" database. The intermediate summarizations provided by this research do not require the systems designer to know a priori the tastes and preferences of every potential constituent of the accounting information. The research concludes with a discussion of problems associated with the design of 'events' accounting systems and the advantages of these approaches in example implementations.