This paper, through case analysis employing analytical autoethnography, investigates the pedagogical approach employed in an introductory course to IFRS. This course is part of a professional accounting education program in South Africa. The analysis reflected the teacher-centered orientation of the pedagogy employed, despite warnings in the literature that such an approach may be inappropriate in educating future accounting professionals. The adopted approach has, however, contributed to the success of alumni in the professional accountancy examinations. Further, these graduates' technical proficiency ensures they are almost immediately productive in the real world. Whether these graduates have been provided with an adequate foundation for long-term career success is, however, debatable.

Purpose -Other business education literature, particularly in the field of economics, has developed theories in respect of the reasons for non-attendance of lectures and the positive correlation between class attendance and academic performance. The aim of this study was to determine the generalizability of these theories to a large accounting class in South Africa.Design/methodology -This paper is a differentiated replication of the study by Paisey and Paisey (2004), who provided initial evidence of the generalizability of these theories to a small accounting class in Scotland, employing a research questionnaire and the analysis of quantitative and qualitative data. and the ability to generate class notes as an additional source of information (Marburger, 2001).The benefits associated with class attendance have lead researchers to hypothesis that class attendance should positively correlate with academic performance (Durden & Ellis, 1995;Devadoss & Foltz, 1996;Rodgers, 2001;Marburger, 2001;Rodgers & Rodgers, 2003;Paisey & Paisey, 2004;Gump, 2005;Sauers et al., 2005;Woodfield et al., 2006;Massingham & Herrington, 2006;Halpern, 2007;Chen & Lin, 2008;Newman-Ford et al., 2008;Horn & Jansen, 2009;Credé et al., 2010). These researchers have generally confirmed this correlation -although cautioning that the link could be no more than a casual one as students who attend lectures may already be more predisposed to academic achievement

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This study reports on the development of two Messenger bots, designed to facilitate the learning of introductory and intermediate accounting. The Messenger bots were developed using a visual development environment that requires no coding knowledge. A thick description of the development of the Messenger bots is provided to encourage replication. It is submitted that instructors, rather than programmers, should take ownership of developing Messenger bots for teaching and learning. Preliminary exploration of the students’ satisfaction yielded positive results. Suggestions are made for specific applications of Messenger bots in teaching and learning and for further research exploring the use of Messenger bots in teaching and learning. Practitioner NotesWhat is already known about this topic Mobile instant messaging (MIM) applications (apps) have potential to facilitate effective social constructivist‐based collaborative learning. Students extensively use MIM apps. There is reluctance from instructors to engage in after hours MIM student consultation. Messenger bots can deliver content on demand, using inter alia text, images and video, and the effective use thereof in teaching and learning has not yet been explored. What this paper adds Instructors, without coding knowledge, are enabled to develop Messenger bots for teaching and learning. Social constructivist‐based suggestions for specific teaching and learning applications of Messenger bots are provided. Preliminary evidence suggests students positively experienced the use of Messenger bots in their learning. Implications for practice and/or policy Messenger bots may support instruction in large classes. Messenger bots may be suited to supplemental instruction rather than replacing face‐to‐face instruction. Specific teaching and learning applications of Messenger bots should be implemented and the effectiveness thereof explored.

South Africa has for many years been involved in and supported the work of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) (formerly the International Accounting Standards Committee [IASC]). Accordingly, South Africa was an early adopter of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). This paper highlights two significant effects that the adoption of IFRS has had on accounting education in South Africa. First, both ''English'' and ''Afrikaans'' universities have faced, to varying degrees, the challenge of shifting from rule-based pedagogy to framework-based teaching of financial reporting. Second, the Afrikaans universities' primary source of reference for their financial reporting students, namely the financial reporting standards, is no longer available in Afrikaans and as a result introduces the risks and complexities associated with the translation from English into Afrikaans.