This book provides a comprehensive and critical overview of learning accounting. It illustrates that when learners need to mentally integrate two or more distinct items of information, it places unnecessary demands on cognitive load.

The book discusses the cognitive load theory, which assumes that the task of mental integration increases the load on already limited working memory, and it does so to such an extent that learning may be severely impeded. The book also investigates how students could deal with cognitive overload when learning introductory accounting using three instructional design formats: the split-attention format, the integrated format, and the self-managed format.