Business leaders are expected to make decisions based on financial data, even when they’ve never been trained to interpret it with confidence. Most managers aren’t accountants, but they still need to understand how money moves through an organization, how financial statements tell a story, and how everyday decisions affect performance.

At the WGU School of Business, academic leaders saw the importance of experiential learning in preparing students for the future of work through Introduction to Business Accounting, a required course for non-accounting majors. With a focus on teaching students in the way they learn best, the school set out to redesign the course around engagement, relevance, and real-world application.

The intent behind the Introduction to Business Accounting course in the WGU School of Business has always been to help students understand the core financial concepts that drive business success. 

Why Accounting Feels Intimidating 

Unfortunately, an accounting course can sometimes be intimidating to non-accounting business students because the curriculum falls outside their areas of familiarity. 

“We ask non-accounting business students to take an accounting course because understanding how money moves through a business is essential for anyone who wants to lead, make good decisions, and grow in their career,” said Casey Clark, vice president of academic operations at the WGU School of Business. “As our academic team dug into the student experience, a consistent theme surfaced. Many students were carrying FOFA, a fear of failing accounting, before they ever began the course.” 

School leaders, including Associate Dean of the WGU School of Business Michele Souder, wanted to remove the stigma to help students complete the course and move closer to graduation. 

“We thought, if we could make this course fun and if we could gamify it and incorporate next-level instructional videos to make the course more engaging and entertaining, then it would help take away the apprehension some students feel and instead boost their confidence with the material in a way that helps them understand how numbers tell stories within a business,” Clark said.

Across industries, even experienced managers admit to struggling with financial reports and lacking confidence in reading and interpreting financial statements. That’s why the school set out to not just redevelop the course but to reimagine accounting education. 

Improved Performance and Completion Rates

Since the course’s release, student outcomes have indicated that performance improved dramatically, according to Clark and Souder. Engagement is higher, and once students get started, they tend to persist through completion. Course completion rates have increased by more than 50% in the first six months, and that success is translating into strong program retention across the school. 

“By creating an immersive story, we transformed accounting into an engaging and accessible learning experience,” said Associate Dean Michele Souder. “This approach connects the content to real-world applications and builds student confidence by deepening their understanding of how accounting works in business. Entertaining videos and interactive practice activities make learning both effective and enjoyable.”

Student Tonia Williams, who resides in Kentucky and is working toward her bachelor’s degree in business administration, said the revised accounting course is the most engaging course she’s taken so far. 

“I enjoyed the videos, questions and interactive tools for real-world scenarios. Having the curriculum arranged in this manner made accounting more enjoyable to learn,” Williams said. “I would advocate for having more courses prepared in this format.”

Student Haley Power, a Georgia resident working toward a bachelor’s degree in business management, said the new accounting class is the best course she’s taken at WGU. She particularly appreciated the real-world scenarios outlined in the modules, which are based on a realistic business, and which position the student as an investigator solving a mystery. 

“The concepts, attention to detail and epic case study developed in the Knead 2 Know Bakery is just phenomenal,” Power said. “This is an absolutely brilliant way to teach learners what they ‘need to know’ in a fun but practical way.”

Partnering to Prepare Work-Ready Graduates

Mitsu Frazier, senior vice president and executive dean, WGU School of Business noted, “This wasn't just one team and one solution working in a silo. It was academic leadership and our instructors who are doing such an amazing job supporting our current accounting courses, and helping to develop the new courses, along with strong collaboration with product development. Together, we have created a pathway that has the potential to transform outcomes for thousands of students each year.”

Kelly Richmond Pope and Roni Jackson are co-founders of Red Flag Mania, the firm that helped the school redesign the course with a more immersive experience.

“It’s very fun, customizable and engaging. And this vision is making a real impact in online learning. Red Flag Mania is proud to work with WGU to support the mission of providing access to high-quality education,” said Richmond Pope.

Red Flag Mania helped transform learning by blending interactive storytelling with real-world scenarios. By integrating multimedia content like suspect profiles, videos and documents, Red Flag Mania creates emotionally rich, engaging stories that cater to various learning styles.

“We’re actively moving learners from transactional to active engagement. We’re using sticky stories to enhance skills like decision-making, critical thinking and problem-solving. Plus, the investigations are active and simply fun to do,” Jackson said.

A New, More Engaging Way to Learn

The redesign of WGU’s Introduction to Business Accounting course demonstrates what can happen when education is built around how adults actually learn and what the workforce truly requires. 

“Accounting wasn’t made easier; it was made more relevant, connecting financial concepts to real-world decision-making and leadership contexts,” Clark said. 

As employers continue to seek talent that can interpret data, exercise judgment and navigate complexity, higher education must move beyond content coverage to confidence-building learning experiences. 

WGU’s approach demonstrates that when courses are designed with relevance and application in mind, they can reduce barriers, strengthen outcomes and better prepare learners to lead.

Reimagining accounting education in this way isn’t about one course. It’s a reminder that financial literacy is a foundational leadership skill—and that how we teach it matters.

“Addressing the fear of failing accounting was not about making the material easier, but about making it more accessible, engaging, and relevant,” Clark said. “The result is a course that builds confidence alongside competence, helping students move forward with a stronger understanding of financial decision-making and the ability to apply accounting concepts in real time.”