PACIOLI stands for 'Panel in ACcounting for Innovation, Offering a Lead-up to the use of Information modelling'. This title honours the Italian monk Luca Pacioli, who wrote the first textbook on double entry accounting in 1494. Pacioli did not invent double entry accounting, but he was the first who wrote a book about the subject. By writing it in Italian he made double entry accounting available for a wide audience.

The similarities with the PACIOLI project are that both deal with bookkeeping and that one of the aims of the PACIOLI project is to disseminate some Dutch experiences with the information modelling approach in agriculture through Europe and in that way make the knowledge accessible for a wider audience.