In this inspired new edition, the authors illustrate accounting not as a set of technical procedures to be memorized, but as a way of identifying and understanding business problems and a means for evaluating potential solutions. Now in its fourth edition, the primary goal of this text remains the same -- to teach students to understand a company's financial statement information. This unique organization introduces students to how a business uses accounting information and then emphasizes activities of the firm in the second half of the book. This engages students in the type of financing, investing and operating decisions that a firm has to make. The approach is especially ideal for students who will become users of accounting information because concepts - not procedures - are emphasized.