ABSTRACT First-year financial accounting students face high content volume and limited access to timely formative feedback, a gap that scalable digital tools could address. This study examines whether voluntary engagement with a fully gamified self-testing app ‘DUGA’ improves exam performance, and which dimensions of engagement matter most. Data were collected across two independent cohorts (N = 1,248) at an open-access European university using a quasi-experimental design. We compare exam performance between voluntary app users, rigorously controlling for prior accounting ability. We decompose engagement into two distinct indicators: intensity (quantity of questions attempted) and accuracy (proportion answered correctly). Results show that voluntary app users significantly outperform non-users. Among users, accuracy is strongly, positively associated with exam performance, whereas intensity alone is not. Accuracy fully mediates the intensity–performance relationship, indicating that it is not engagement volume itself, but the quality of engagement it produces, that drives exam performance. Moreover, intensity and accuracy combine synergistically: students who practise both frequently and accurately achieve greater exam gains than accuracy would predict independently. These findings help explain mixed evidence in prior gamification research by distinguishing engagement quality from engagement quantity and offer practical guidance for accounting educators on the design and implementation of gamified self-testing tools.

ABSTRACT This study investigates how the integration of experiential learning through structured debates enhances student engagement and the comprehension of complex corporate governance concepts in accounting education. Grounded in Kolb’s experiential learning theory, this research addresses the global demand for pedagogical innovations that transition students from passive knowledge recipients to active problem-solvers. Using a qualitative case study of 151 students participating in an advanced corporate governance course, this study examines the application of pseudo-mock trials as a resource-efficient alternative to full-scale mock trial instruction. Data derived from student evaluations and instructor reflections demonstrate that this interactive approach fosters higher-order thinking and ethical reasoning by requiring students to synthesize information and defend arguments within a simulated fraud scenario. This study contributes an empirical pedagogical model and a reflexive framework for its implementation, offering transferable knowledge for accounting educators seeking to adopt scalable, high-impact experiential learning strategies globally.

ABSTRACT There have been demands in recent years for a focused inclusion of critical thinking in the accounting curriculum to enhance accounting students’ critical thinking skills. This has placed the onus on accounting educators to actively explore ways in which accounting courses should be (re)designed to achieve this goal. This exploratory study employed a pre-test, post-test quasi-experimental design over two research cycles (2023 and 2024) to determine whether embedding explicit critical thinking instruction within a first-year course in an accounting degree could support students’ development of critical thinking skills. The researchers firstly designed and implemented a one-semester critical thinking intervention aimed at enhancing students’ critical thinking. Secondly, the researchers made use of the Reasoning Test (ART) and Critical Reasoning Test (CRT) to measure participants’ abstract reasoning abilities and their verbal and numerical critical reasoning abilities before and after participation in this intervention. Results reveal a statistically significant difference (p < 0.001) between the pre-test and post-test scores of participants in both the ART and CRT assessments during both research cycles. These findings demonstrate that a one-semester critical thinking intervention, incorporating explicit critical thinking pedagogies and activities within the accounting curriculum, can provide support for the development of accounting students’ critical thinking skills.

ABSTRACT Possessing cross-cultural capabilities is essential for accounting educators operating in transnational environments to effectively engage diverse student populations, foster inclusive teaching, and enhance educational outcomes. Despite its importance, this competency remains under-examined. Drawing on cultural intelligence (CQ) as the theoretical framework, this study investigates the cross-cultural capabilities of long-term foreign accounting educators working at foreign universities’ branch campuses in Vietnam. Data collection involved semi-structured in-depth interviews and questionnaire surveys with foreign accounting educators. Findings reveal that deep immersion in the local community served as the primary pathway for CQ development. Engagement with colleagues, students, and cultural practices shaped more culturally responsive teaching practices. This study highlights the critical role of cross-cultural capabilities in shaping teaching practices in culturally diverse environments.

ABSTRACT Building on Contingency Theory, this study investigates the effects of contingent factors – such as situational factors like teaching auditing ethics and the methods used (active vs. passive) – and cognitive factors like moral intensity on accounting students’ moral decision-making (i.e. moral sensitivity, moral judgment, motivation, and moral character). A 2 × 2 factorial experimental design was employed to test the research hypotheses. The ANOVA results revealed that teaching auditing ethics alone do not fully explain ethical behavior. However, when auditing ethics is combined with teaching methods and moral intensity, it significantly affects ethical decision-making. Specifically, a simple effects analysis indicated that active teaching methods are superior to passive ones in raising students’ awareness of the complexity of ethical dilemmas and the importance of acting ethically, especially when faced with high-materiality ethical issues. The findings also revealed that passive teaching methods, such as traditional lectures and readings, have an impact on students’ moral decision-making similar to not teaching auditing ethics at all. Practical and public policy implications are discussed.

ABSTRACT With travel restrictions easing post-COVID-19, it is pertinent to assess whether International Online Visits (IOVs) significantly influence the global mindset development of accounting and finance students amidst cancelled international academic activities in business schools. This study uses a mixed method approach, including survey data and interviews with students who chose whether to complete an IOV or not in an accounting and finance course at a university in Mexico. The quantitative results of this study show that IOVs positively affect the development of a global mindset in students and that the development of their professional aspirations mediates the effect. Moreover, the qualitative findings demonstrate that IOVs allowed students to develop their network and impacted their personal lives. Furthermore, the low cost of IOVs proved to be relevant for students. This article contributes to the literature by investigating the link between International Online Visits (IOVs), professional aspirations, and global mindset development.

ABSTRACT This research delves into exploring shifts in students’ learning approach profiles within the context of accounting education. Specifically, this study investigates the influence of motivational factors (achievement goals and expectations of learning accounting) and teaching-learning environment-related aspects (course workload and teaching quality) in explaining changes in deep – and surface-dominated learning profiles. This study draws upon data from 122 students enrolled in an introductory accounting course. Latent profile analysis is employed to identify distinct profiles of students’ approaches to learning at course outset and upon completion. Findings based on logistic regression substantiate that students are likely to adopt a surface-dominated learning profile instead of a deep-dominated learning profile in three scenarios. These are (i) decrease in mastery goal orientation, (ii) increase in performance goal orientation, and (iii) students’ view of teaching quality as suboptimal. This study offers introductory accounting course educators a profound understanding of enhancing students’ learning experience to foster deep learning.

ABSTRACT This study aims to provide insights into the process of team-based experiential learning in a sustainability accounting course. A case study of a postgraduate course on material flow cost accounting at a German university was applied. Data were collected from learning journals and in-depth interviews. The findings provide insights into the process of team-based experiential learning. The process is indicated by four team roles of students: interpersonal, information, analytic, and action roles, which move around the four-stage learning cycle. Six challenges in students' experiential learning in teams were found at different stages: the characteristics of team dynamics, the selection of relevant information from the case, confusion and frustration, connecting information in a meaningful manner, time constraints, and the increasingly complex level of the tasks. The study contributes to the accounting education literature and experiential learning literature by extending knowledge about team roles and learning challenges around the learning cycle. Practical implications for educators are discussed to facilitate team-based experiential learning toward sustainability education. These include the adoption of educator role profiles to support students' learning, the creation of a safe learning space for students, and the design of experiential learning activities on the foundation of four-stage learning processes.

ABSTRACT Current agendas such as decolonising curriculum, incorporating sustainability, and navigating the neoliberal global political-economic order demand a broader perspective on management accounting education in universities than the prevailing techno-economic taxonomy. With a critical social science approach, this paper first explores why current management accounting thought limits the consideration of social and ecological justice issues. It then seeks to broaden management accounting teaching by integrating ecological and social justice concerns into the Strategic Management Accounting (SMA) curriculum. Drawing from Deleuze and Guattari’s theoretical concepts of arborescent and rhizomatic assemblages, the paper provides a conceptual framework to contextualise, historicise, politicise, and theorise the techno-managerial particularities of SMA within a broader framework of strategising ecological and social justice. This approach encourages management accounting students to critically engage with professionally accredited techno-managerial elements of SMA while considering their sustainability implications.

ABSTRACT There is continuing demand from practitioners, standard setters, and regulators for accountants to have the knowledge and competencies to contribute to sustainable business practices, reporting, and assurance. Educators at all levels of the accounting curricula have a responsibility to upskill. This research examines the extent of sustainability education among all levels of accounting curricula. Publicly available course information at three levels in New Zealand – secondary school, university, and professional accounting – was analysed using content analysis. The research finds a lack of sustainability education at all accounting curricula levels, with uneven coverage that is focused on sustainability broadly with questionable breadth and depth. This inconsistency among accounting educators results in accounting graduates with varied exposure to sustainability. This research calls for collective responsibility and collaborative leadership among educators, professional accounting bodies, practitioners, standard setters, regulators, and society to ensure sustainability education keeps pace with the development of sustainability accounting practice globally.