The purpose of this study was to understand the processes undertaken by accounting academics during an international teaching experience that reveal their cultural intelligence (CQ) levels. We employ an ethnographic approach with confirmatory data collection involving five triangulated sources. Our findings indicate supportive and culturally sensitive strategies, active participation in the host environment, the importance of intrinsic motivation, and the ability to appropriately adjust behaviour are associated with higher levels of CQ. Furthermore, the ability to engage local actors and embrace local culture and people were found to be important capabilities of academics who possessed higher levels of CQ.