<SYSTEM_TASK:>
Solve the following problem using Python, implementing the functions described below, one line at a time
<END_TASK>
<USER_TASK:>
Description:
 def fields_equal(self, instance, fields_to_ignore=("id", "change_date", "changed_by")):
 """ Compares this instance's fields to the supplied instance to test for equality. This will ignore any fields in `fields_to_ignore`. Note that this method ignores many-to-many fields. Args: instance: the model instance to compare fields_to_ignore: List of fields that should not be compared for equality. By default includes `id`, `change_date`, and `changed_by`. Returns: True if the checked fields are all equivalent, else False """

        for field in self._meta.get_fields():
            if not field.many_to_many and field.name not in fields_to_ignore:
                if getattr(instance, field.name) != getattr(self, field.name):
                    return False

        return True