The paper begins by examining the dissonance that exists between the learning outcomes of hospitality education and the skill needs of the industry in relation to management accounting. Next the paper considers the competence needs of managers in handling numerical data and the problems that many students have with accounting. Following this introduction the paper describes a computer-based management game and evaluates it as an approach for the development of students with particular emphasis on developing data handling and accountancy skills within higher education. The paper reports on student responses to the exercise, from both free response and a structured questionnaire. A comparison is made between students who participated in the CRASE exercise and a group who did not, which highlights the benefits to be derived from its use.
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