Abstract

This paper develops Applied Professional Formation (APF) as a conceptual framework for explaining how professional formation in accounting education (AE) occurs under contemporary conditions where learning spans academic study, workplace participation, and digitally mediated practice. Existing approaches largely respond to these conditions through curricular reform or skills development, but offer limited theoretical account of how professional identity and judgment develop across such settings. APF addresses this limitation by conceptualising professional formation as a process shaped by participation across domains, mediated through boundary crossing and identity work. In doing so, it challenges dominant linear assumptions in which education precedes practice and professional formation is treated as a by-product of work exposure. The framework is illustrated through a design-oriented example from AE, using a degree apprenticeship context to render formation processes visible without offering empirical evaluation. The paper advances a theoretically integrated account of professional formation and provides a robust basis for analysing and designing AE under increasingly hybrid conditions.