About the author
Raechel Wight (B.Bus., B.V.A.) is an educator and author who has taught undergraduate accounting at a
number of universities. She has many years experience writing educational resources for accounting students
and, in her prior professional career, worked as an auditor for Deloitte. Raechel is also a practiced visual
artist who brings a refreshing level of multimedia innovation to her authoring.
A letter from the author
Welcome to my Financial Accounting, Third Edition 360Textbook. I have written this resource for use in an introductory financial accounting
course and have assumed that my readers have no prior experience in accounting.
I believe that learning accounting can be like learning a language – indeed, accounting is sometimes referred to as the "language of
business". Yet, while we often think about accounting as being important for business, many of us fear it to be technical and difficult.
To add insult to injury, we often apply that most terrible of labels to it: "boring". But at its heart, accounting is not technical or
difficult or boring. At its heart, accounting is a language that describes the qualities of a business in the same way that we can describe
the qualities of a painting.
Speaking of art, it has more relevance to this textbook than you might initially imagine. Before my career as an auditor and accounting
teacher, my earlier allegiance was to the visual arts. I am well aware of the power of pictures to convey meaning. As they say, "a picture
paints a thousand words". In writing this resource, my inspiration was to bring my experience in visual communication to my teaching of
financial accounting.
For example, to help you map out the content of each chapter, I have created a visual guide for every section. Its aim is to help you
navigate the content of the chapter, showing you the path your learning has travelled and where it is headed. Think of it as like a photo
you might take when on holidays. Like all good travel photos, I hope it can serve to bring back those memories of what you learned on your
travels.
Most excitingly, in this current era of electronic media, my ability to simultaneously teach across so many varied canvases has never
been greater. But my multi-media elements are not just eye candy – they each have a purpose and meaning to convey. I have written every
component of each chapter (for example, the podcasts, online VirtualTutor questions, and even the AntiCheat homework) to motivate you to
delve into the content and engage at a deeper level than other texts on this subject. You will find that every chapter contains a complete
set of learning tools from plain paper through to streaming video and I hope that in their entirety, you find them informative, supportive
and even fun. I certainly enjoyed writing, composing and performing them.
So, come along with me. We are about to start a journey. Our ultimate destination is mastery over the language of accounting. Along the way
you will use the many canvasses in my 360Textbook to see, hear and even touch all of the nuances of a business that we can describe with that
language.
I look forward to helping you learn thoroughly.
