“And Now for Something Completely Different” Stimulating Interventions to Improve Academic Outcomes in Financial Accounting Courses

Based on social-psychological and motivation theories, well-crafted interventions have proven remarkably effective to improve educational outcomes in higher education. The intervention we will present in this paper focuses on promoting motivation and performance in financial accounting courses. It aims at reducing class-related boredom which is commonly experienced by students and has an impact on their learning engagement and achievements. Two university courses on financial accounting have been subject to a stimulating intervention, a short lecture in a field unrelated to accounting. The study found a hugely beneficial impact on the dropout rates as well as the average grades particularly for younger (18 to 20 years) full-time students and a somewhat smaller positive impact on the average grades for older (25 to 30 years) part-time students.