UC Davis Case Study
A Real-World Edge in Financial Analysis
Eric Johnson
Professor & Lecturer, UC Davis
“Reach Reporting shows my students what’s truly possible when you go beyond the built-in tools of accounting platforms—it’s about thinking beyond the app.”
The Institution
The University of California, Davis is one of the nation’s top public research universities, located near Sacramento, CA. Known for academic excellence and innovation, UC Davis prepares students for success across a variety of disciplines. Within its Graduate School of Management (GSM) and undergraduate economics programs, students are immersed in forward-thinking, practical learning environments designed to mirror real-world business challenges.
The Course
Professor Eric Johnson teaches a wide range of upper-division undergraduate and graduate elective courses including Personal Finance, Investments, Real Estate Economics, and New Business Ventures. His classes emphasize real-world applications, empowering students with skills and tools used by today’s financial professionals.
The Challenge
While accounting platforms like QuickBooks and Xero offer standard financial reports, they often fall short when it comes to delivering granular, insightful, and board-ready visuals. For a classroom focused on practical business education, Professor Johnson wanted a tool that went further—a platform that could showcase the expanded possibilities of third-party financial reporting tools and encourage students to “think beyond the app.”
He wasn’t facing problems in the traditional sense—but he wanted his students to see what professionals use to create high-quality reports, dashboards, and visual insights. That meant real-time data, error-spotting capabilities, and dynamic gross margin analysis—not static sample spreadsheets or theoretical models.
The Solution
After discovering Reach Reporting through a Reddit post, Professor Johnson quickly saw its potential as a teaching tool for practical finance education. Unlike native reporting tools in QBO or Xero, Reach offered:
- Granular gross margin tracking by product type—allowing students to visualize trends instantly.
- Custom sheets to replace manual Excel workflows.
- Error detection through data visualization, as mistakes in data entry become glaringly obvious in gross margin and trend charts.
- A system that’s even easier to manipulate than Excel, making it accessible for students familiar with spreadsheet tools.
He now uses Reach Reporting in all four of his courses to demonstrate real-world applications of financial reporting and teach students how to extract meaningful insights from data.
UC Davis Benefits
Real-Time, Real-World Learning
Students interact with live data and operating business models—not filler datasets. By analyzing trends from platforms like Airbnb in Real Estate Economics, students get a hands-on view of how financial tools drive strategic thinking.
Visual Learning with Impact
The granularity of charts and graphs in Reach allows students to instantly understand trends—especially in profit margins and revenue flow. These visuals help identify errors and allow students to spot inconsistencies they might otherwise miss in spreadsheets.
Custom Reporting, Simplified
With Reach’s custom sheets, Professor Johnson can replicate many of the Excel functions he used in the past without the inefficiency of copying, pasting, and formatting manually. Students quickly learn how flexible and time-saving the platform is.
Introducing Broader Thinking
By comparing the output from Reach to that of QBO and Xero, Professor Johnson encourages students to explore how third-party tools extend the functionality of traditional accounting software. This opens their eyes to a world of possibilities early in their careers.
“Reach Reporting has helped my students understand that Excel isn’t the ceiling—it’s just the starting point. They now see how powerful third-party tools can be.”
Student Feedback & Teaching Impact
Students appreciate the realism and efficiency that Reach Reporting brings to their coursework. Whether spotting data entry errors or visualizing the impact of invoice timing on cash flow, the platform brings otherwise abstract concepts to life.
Professor Johnson often demonstrates Reach Reporting from a shareholder or board perspective, guiding students to think about what decision-makers need to see. This reinforces strategic thinking, reporting precision, and communication skills—essential traits in the finance world.
Looking Ahead
Professor Johnson is actively developing new case studies using Reach Reporting and expects to expand its usage in future quarters. He sees it as an ongoing part of his teaching toolkit alongside tools like Power BI, Excel, and accounting software platforms.
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