The use of technology to prepare financial statements has allowed teachers to reevaluate the approach to teaching financial accounting. When we ask teachers of financial accounting to describe their approach to the course, we often hear the refrain: "I take a 'user' approach." or "I want to take a more 'user' approach." When we ask, "what do you mean by 'user' approach?" we get at least four different answers:

• The conceptual approach
• The real-world example approach
• The analysis approach
• The no-debits-or-credits approach

The instructor who wants to use the conceptual approach tends to say, "I want to emphasize the concepts and conceptual framework that underlie financial accounting." Under this approach, students learn why certain procedures are followed. They need to understand the basic concepts of assets, liabilities, and equity and their relationship to the matching rule through the concepts of recognition, valuation, and classification. Students need to recognize how the matching rule underlies much of what is reported in the financial statements. They also must comprehend and articulate the effect of accounting conventions like materiality, conservatism, and full disclosure on the financial statements.

The instructor who wants to use the real-world example approach tends to say, "I want to give lots of real-world examples in my financial accounting course." Under this approach, students learn the relevance of financial accounting to today's business world. Real financial statements and articles from business publications are used in every class. Many instructors have students gain access to the actual annual reports of companies to study and refer to throughout the term. The Internet is used extensively to access information about real companies and the financial markets.

The instructor who wants to use the analysis approach tends to say, "I want students to be able to analyze and interpret financial statements." Under this approach, financial ratios are integrated throughout the course. Students learn the effects of transactions on financial performance as measured by financial ratios. An emphasis is placed on interpreting the results of business operations over time and within an industry.

The instructor who wants to use the no-debits-or-credits approach tends to say, "I don't want to cover procedures. I want to focus on the use of financial statements." Under this approach, some instructors take the more radical approach, which is to make no reference to double-entry accounting at all. However, what most people mean is that they want to de-emphasize journals and ledgers. Business transactions are analyzed using a double-entry system through the use of the balance sheet equations or through T accounts. Faculty know that this type of T-account analysis is one of the most powerful, useful, and long-lasting (first introduced in writing in 1494) analytical principles in finance.

Our response to these opinions about what the user approach should be is "Why shouldn't the user approach to teaching financial accounting include all of these elements?" Students with an understanding of the concepts that underlie the financial statements are better able to interpret the same. Use of real-world examples demonstrates the relevance of accounting to business. Further, students who can analyze the effect of business transactions on the financial statements and interpret them using financial ratios demonstrate higher order critical thinking skills. Finally, with a user emphasis in mind, we de-emphasize journals and ledgers, but not double-entry analysis. Most of our students are business majors who will be users of financial information throughout their careers. All students, we believe, need a strong grounding in double-entry analysis because of its value as an analytical tool. Future accounting majors will also benefit as they take more advanced courses in accounting.