Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate factors affecting the students’ learning of the concepts of the accounting information systems (AIS) in Iran. Design/methodology/approach The statistical population of the study is the accounting and auditing students (Master’s degree) who have the lesson of AIS at state and private universities, as well as the institutes of higher education in 2017. The Likert scale has been used to design questionnaires. Further, the data were analyzed using structural equation modeling with the partial least squares technique. Findings Overall, after analyzing and comparing the results of the hypotheses, it was found that, respectively, “assistance to students,” “the power of critical thinking,” “academic professors skills,” “kind of transition to university,” “AIS course structure,” “proper timing of AIS presentation,“ “presentation of a prerequisite course” and finally, “appreciation of AIS” have the greatest impact on the level of student learning in AIS lesson. The results of this paper showed that “teaching style” and “having the previous background of the information system concepts” do not have a statistically significant effect on students’ general learning. Originality/value Without any overstatement, this paper will warn educational authorities in emerging countries that lack of attention to factors affecting university students’ learning can have serious consequences for the market of a country. Other than that, this paper will make university professors aware of the effects of effective methods for better student learning in the field of information technology, so that they can make a better assessment of the importance of AIS course.

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