Abstract:

Driven by a continuing debate on the evolution of the management accounting career as well as the influence of instructional strategies on student performance, this study focuses on active learning strategies in managerial accounting courses. Based on Kolb’s experiential learning theory, a quasi-experiment was developed to assess the effect of a hands-on, team-based guided aviation manufacturing case on teaching standard costing to business administration majors. Evidence was gathered from 4 cohorts of undergraduate cost accounting courses in a large, public research university in Brazil. A total of 228 students participated in the study. The instructor taught all groups under identical conditions on a weekly basis. Results are robust and indicate with a large effect size that the experimental group demonstrated significant improvement in exam performance compared to the control group. Suggestions to faculty members and administrators are presented along with recommendations based on the results.

Keywords:

Learning, Planes, Standard Costing.