The basic purpose of accounting is to provide decision makers with information useful in making economic decisions. These decisions concern the allocation and use of scarce economic resources, such as money, land, and labor. The manner in which we allocate and use economic resources shapes the world's economies. Resource allocation decisions determine prices, wages, what goods and services we produce, the adequacy of our food supplies, the quality of our transportation systems, and which countries will prosper and which will suffer economic decline. Our primary goals in this text – and in this introductory course – are to develop your understanding of accounting information and your abilities to use this information effectively in making economic decisions. Just as there are many different types of economic decisions, there are many different types of accounting information. In this text, we emphasize the field of financial accounting.