prefoce<br >TO THE STUDENT You are about to begin your study of one of the most fascinating and influ-<br > ential subjects in our entire social and economic sphere. Accounting is both<br > interesting and important because it deals directly with people and how they<br > go about forming their objectives， making decisions， and reaching their<br > goals. Accounting is influential， indeed， because it is vitally concerned with<br > improving the likelihood that people actually do accomplish their goals，<br > especially those goals of an economic and social nature.<br > This course should be a rewarding and pleasant experience for you.<br > Through the use of modern learning concepts， Accounting Principles gives you<br > a complete yet simple learning system to assure your mastery of this impor-<br > tant area of knowledge. This book has been written specifically for you. The<br > following paragraphs outline the best way for you to use this textbook in<br > your study of accounting.<br > First: F~ad and ~tudy the t~"t To make it easier for you to learn accounting，<br > the material which you will study in this textbook is divided into small<br > manageable units. There are twenty-four chapters in the book. Each of the<br > chapters contains either two or three units， for a total of fifty-five units. The<br > units are arranged in a logical progression to help you completely master the<br > essential material. Each unit includes the following elements:<br > I. Objective. The precise purpose of the unit is stated clearly and openly as the first<br > step. Where appropriate， this section tells you how the unit relates to past material<br > and to future material.<br > 2. Appr~ach t~ attaining the ~bjective After y~u learn what the unit is g~ing t~ acc~m"<br > plish， you are briefed on how the unit s material will be covered and on the<br > sequence of the ideas that will be presented.<br > 3. The text itself. You should concentrate your major effort on this area. The material<br > is clearly presented in a logical， step-by-step fashion to help you to learn and<br > remember the important relationships. As a further guide， the key questions from<br > the approach section are repeated in the text margins next to where the questions<br > are actually discussed and answered. Charts， tables， and illustrations are included to<br > help you to quickly and efficiently understand a particular subject.<br > 4. Summary of New terms. Accounting， like most subjects you will study， has its own<br > special language which you must learn. To help you do this， ever7 new term is<br > printed in color in a bold face type and is carefully defined the first time it is used in<br > the text. In addition， a summary checklist of these new terms， with definitions， is<br > included at the end of each unit. As a special feature of this second edition， each of<br >