Embodiments of the invention provide methods and data structures for the effective and efficient synchronization or inter-exchange of invoice adjustment information between business applications employing disparate DOFs. For one embodiment, a DOF is provided that allows for relationships between entities, also referred to as invoice adjustments, to be modeled as attributes of an entity and for customization of the DOF in a manner that facilitates upgrading of the DOF. For one embodiment, the invoice adjustment DOF is provided in a common software language such as XML. For one embodiment, invoice adjustment information from each of several business applications is translated to a common DOF. The invoice adjustment information, in the common DOF, is then inter-exchanged among the several business applications. Each application has only to translate the invoice adjustment information from the common DOF to the application-specific DOF of the respective business application.