Teaching internal control through active learning

• We present an active learning activity focused on the basics of internal control.
• Students are empowered to think about their own personal experiences.
• Students critically think about and evaluate internal controls as weak or strong.
• The activity involves a competition promoting student participation and learning.

This teaching note presents the use of an in-class competition that actively engages students in learning about the basics of internal control in an organization. Student feedback and instructor’s observation suggest that this active learning approach is effective for three primary reasons: (1) it focuses on the student’s own personal experience resulting in the fact that students can more easily relate to the examples created by their peers; (2) it empowers the student; and (3) it creates a competitive, active-learning environment. This article provides a detailed description of an interactive lesson that innovatively guides introductory accounting students toward understanding the basic principles of internal control, a topic getting more and more important in AIS education in post-SOX era. Furthermore, the detailed materials at the end of the article provide ready-to-use teaching materials and related instructions to facilitate implementation.