Demonstrating critical thinking in accounting: applying a competency framework

Supporting students to demonstrate critical thinking skills while studying accounting is challenging. Researching how to do this is made more difficult because ‘[t]here is no single, agreed-upon definition of critical thinking within accounting education … ’ [Wolcott, S. K., & Sargent, M. J. 2021. Critical thinking in accounting education: Status and call for action. Journal of Accounting Education, 56, 100731. https://doi-org/10.1016/j.jaccedu.2021.100731; p. 2]. Terblanche and De Clercq [2021. A critical thinking competency framework for accounting students. Accounting Education, 30(4), 325–354. https://doi-org/10.1080/09639284.2021.1913614] have proposed a critical thinking competency framework for accounting students (TDC framework) that can be used to support research in this area. This framework involves certain skills and dispositions using terms and language grounded in the critical thinking literature. This study applies the TDC framework to a study of a first-year accounting unit at an Australian university, involving 101 students from five offerings of the unit over three years (2019–2021). Using phenomenography, evidence is provided of students demonstrating critical thinking skills and dispositions at an introductory level. The cognitive skills displayed are Interpretation, Analysis, Evaluation, Making inferences, Explanation, Self-regulation, and Challenge assumptions. The dispositions displayed are Confident in own ability to reason, Inquisitive, and Open-minded about divergent world views. This study used an integrated set of interventions grounded in the scholarship of learning and teaching. It provides evidence about how to support students to demonstrate critical thinking skills while studying accounting at university.