This article addresses how and why introductory management accounting courses could contribute to sustainable literacy. Drawing on pragmatic constructivism we develop a course design. We base our discussions on teaching experience from two Business Schools. The proposed course design discusses sustainability around five common themes; (i) fundamental concepts, (ii) what are 'net income' and 'value creation', (iii) product costing and short-term decision-making, (iv) capital budgeting decisions, and (v) performance measurement. We demonstrate that it is possible to introduce sustainability and how it also allows for a better understanding of management accounting as such. Fundamentally, it is illustrated that critical thinking can be integrated at an introductory level in a management accounting course. As such, this study helps develop students' sustainable literacy. By allowing sustainability to be a natural part of the standard subjects, the article claims that the subject area contributes to the future demands on management accountants as well.