Critical thinking: The key to success in management accounting and corporate finance
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.20853/40-2-6716Keywords:
accounting education, critical thinking, corporate financial management, cost and management accountingAbstract
This study aimed to determine whether there is a link between students' critical thinking abilities and their performance in a management accounting and financial management (MAFM) course as part of a degree program in accounting sciences. The study used a learning orientation index tool to measure students' critical thinking ability. It also used multiple linear regression to investigate the relationship between students' ability to think critically and their marks for the different components of the course. Other variables were considered in this investigation, including gender, age, ethnicity, first or home language education, and perceived level of course enjoyment. The regression results indicate that students' critical thinking score, age, and level of enjoyment from the course are the most significant variables linked to their performance in MAFM. Many South African students do not have the opportunity to learn in their first or native language, although this variable had no significant impact on their performance in this course. The study's findings indicate that students' capacity to think critically is crucial to their performance in management accounting, corporate finance, and managerial employment after graduation
Downloads
References
Abdi, H., and L. J. Williams. 2010 Principal component analysis. Wiley interdisciplinary reviews: computational statistics, 2(4), 433‒459.
Accounting Education Change Commission. 1990. “Position statement number one: Objectives of education for accountants”. Issues Account. Educ., 5, 307‒312.
Al-Twaijry, A. A. 2010. “Student academic performance in undergraduate managerial accounting courses”. J. Educ. Bus., 85(6), 311–322. https://doi.org/10.1080/08832320903449584.
American Accounting Association. 1986. “Future accounting education: Preparing for the expanding profession”. Issues Account. Educ., 1(1), 168–195.
Anderson, L. W., and D. R. Krathwohl. 2001. A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: A revision of Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives: complete edition. Addison Wesley Longman, Inc..
Anggraeni, D. M., B. K. Prahani, B, N. Suprapto, N. Shofiyah, and B. Jatmiko. 2023. “Systematic review of problem based learning research in fostering critical thinking skills”. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 49, 101334.
Apostolou, B., J. W. Dorminey, J. M. Hassell, and S. F. Watson. 2013. “Accounting education literature review” 2010–2012. J. Account. Educ., 31(2), 107–161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaccedu.2013.03.001.
Ballantine, J. A., and P. M. Larres. 2004. “A critical analysis of students' perceptions of the usefulness of the case study method in an advanced management accounting module: The impact of relevant work experience.” Account. Educ., 13(2), 171-189. https://doi.org/10.1080/09639280410001676885.
Bandyopadhyay, S., and J. Szostek. 2019. “Thinking critically about critical thinking: Assessing critical thinking of business students using multiple measures.” J. Educ. Bus., 94(4), 259‒270. https://doi.org/10.1080/08832323.2018.1524355.
Barac, K. 2017. Critical thinking: A prized commodity. Retrieved from https://www.bbrief.co.za/2017/09/19/critical-thinking-a-prized-commodity/. Accessed 6 August 2024.
Baril, C. P., B. M. Cunningham, D. R. Fordham, R. L. Gardner, and S. K. Wolcott. 1998. “Critical thinking in the public accounting profession: Aptitudes and attitudes.” J. Account. Educ., 16(3–4), 381–406. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0748-5751(98)00023–2.
Beyer, B. K. 1985. “Critical thinking: What is it?” Soc. Educ., 49(4), 270–276.
Butler, M. G., K. S. Church, and A. W. Spencer. 2019. “Do, reflect, think, apply: Experiential education in accounting”. J. Account. Educ., 48, 12–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaccedu.2019.05.001.
Castellano, J., S. Lightle, and B. Baker. 2017. “A strategy for teaching critical thinking: The Sellmore case”. Manag. Account. Q., 18(3), 1.
Chaffee, J. 1991. Thinking critically (3rd ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Chueh, H. E., and C. Y. Kao. 2024. “Exploring the impact of integrating problem based learning and agile in the classroom on enhancing professional competence”. Heliyon, 10(3).
Cloete, M. 2018. “The impact of an integrated assessment on the critical thinking skills of first-year university students.” Account. Educ., 27(5), 479–494. https://doi.org/10.1080/09639284.2018.1501717.
Cognadev. 2013. FAQ Manual: Cognitive assessment using the CPP and LOI. Retrieved from http://www.cognadev.com/publications/FAQ%20CPP%20and%20LOI.pdf. Accessed 9 November 2020.
Cognadev. 2014. Learning Orientation Index: A Cognadev product. Retrieved from http://www.cognadev.com/publications/brochures/Learning_Orientation_Index.pdf. Accessed 9 November 2020.
Cognadev. 2015a. Innovative assessments. Retrieved from http://www.cognadev.com/assessments/. Accessed 9 November 2020.
Cognadev. 2015b. Learning Orientation Index: Sample report. Johannesburg, South Africa: Cognadev UK.
D’Alessio, F. A., B. E. Avolio, and V. Charles. 2019. “Studying the impact of critical thinking on the academic performance of executive MBA students”. Think. Skills Creat., 31, 275‒283. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2019.02.002.
Department of Education. 2002. Revised national curriculum statement grades R-9 (schools): Overview. Retrieved from https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201409/natcur0.pdf. Accessed 9 November 2020.
Drennan, L. G., and F. H. Rohde. 2002. “Determinants of performance in advanced undergraduate management accounting: An empirical investigation.” Account. Finance, 42(1), 27‒40. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-629X.00065.
Elo, T., S. Pätäri, H. Sjögrén, and M. Mättö. 2024. “ Transformation of skills in the accounting field: the expectation–performance gap perceived by accounting students”. Accounting Education, 33(3), 237‒273.
Ennis, R. H. 1987. “A taxonomy of critical thinking dispositions and abilities”. In J. B. Baron and R. J. Sternberg (Eds.), Teaching thinking skills: Theory and practice. New York, NY: W. H. Freeman.
Ennis, R. H. 1993. “Critical Thinking Assessment.” Theory into Practice, 32, 179–186. https://doi.org/10.1080/00405849309543594
Facione, P. A. 1990. Critical thinking: A statement of expert consensus for purposes of educational assessment and instruction. Research findings and recommendations. Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED315423.pdf. Accessed 9 November 2020.
Facione, P. A. 2020. Critical thinking: What it is and why it counts. Retrieved from https://www.student.uwa.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/1922502/Critical-Thinking-What-it-is-and-why-it-counts.pdf. Accessed 9 November 2020.
Gardner, H. E. 2011. Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. Basic books.
Halpern, D. F. 2000. Sex differences in cognitive abilities. Psychology Press.
Jakobsen, M., F. Mitchell, H. Nørreklit, and M. Trenca. 2019. “Educating management accountants as business partners: Pragmatic constructivism as an alternative pedagogical paradigm for teaching management accounting at master's level.” Qual. Res. Account. Manag., 16(4), 517-541. https://doi.org/10.1108/QRAM-10-2017-0099.
Jenkins, E. K. 1998. “The significant role of critical thinking in predicting auditing students' performance.” J. Educ. Bus., 73(5), 274–279. https://doi.org/10.1080/08832329809601644.
Jolliffe, I. T. 2002. Principal component analysis for special types of data (pp. 338–372). Springer, New York.
Kaiser, H. F. 1974. “An index of factorial simplicity”. psychometrika, 39(1), 31‒36.
Kealey, B. T., J. Holland, and M. Watson. 2005. “Preliminary evidence on the association between critical thinking and performance in principles of accounting”. Issues Account. Educ., 20(1), 33–49. https://doi.org/10.2308/iace.2005.20.1.33.
Kheloui, S., S. Jacmin-Park, O. Larocque, P. Kerr, M. Rossi, L. Cartier, and R. P. Juster. 2023. Sex/gender differences in cognitive abilities. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 105333.
Koh, M. Y., and H. C. Koh. 1999. “The determinants of performance in an accountancy degree programme”. Account. Educ., 8(1), 13‒29. https://doi.org/10.1080/096392899331017.
Latif, N. E. A., F. M. Yusuf, N. M. Tarmezi, S. Z. Rosly, and Z. N. Zainuddin. 2019. “The application of critical thinking in accounting education: A literature review”. Int. J. High. Educ., 8(3), 57‒62. https://doi.org/10.5430/ijhe.v8n3p57.
Mahanal, S., S. Zubaidah, I. D. Sumiati, T. M. Sari, and N. Ismirawati. 2019. “RICOSRE: A learning model to develop critical thinking skills for students with different academic abilities”. Int. J. Instr., 12(2), 417‒434. https://doi.org/10.29333/iji.2019.12227a.
Maksy, M. M., and L. Zheng. 2008. “Factors associated with student performance in advanced accounting and auditing: An empirical study in a public university”. Account. Res. J., 21(1), 16‒32. https://doi.org/10.1108/10309610810891328.
McPeck, J. E. 1981. Critical thinking and education. Oxford: Martin Robertson.
McPeck, J. E. 1990. Teaching critical thinking: Dialogue and dialectic. New York, NY: Routledge.
Norris, S. P., and R. H. Ennis. 1989. Evaluating critical thinking. Pacific Grove, CA: Critical Thinking Press and Software.
Paul, R. 2005. “The state of critical thinking today”. New Directions for Community Colleges, 2005(130), 27–38. https://doi.org/10.1002/cc.193.
Pullen, E. 2024. “An analysis of critical thinking skills and its link to democratic citizenship education within the South African chartered accountancy higher educational landscape: A reflection on my doctoral encounter”. In Philosophical Adventures in African Higher Education (pp. 65‒78). Routledge.
Puteh, M. S., and F. A. Hamid. 2014. “A test on critical thinking level of graduating Bachelor of Accounting students: Malaysian evidence”. Procedia Soc. Behav. Sci., 116, 2794‒2798. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.01.658.
Rossetto, C., and S. Chapple. 2019. “Creative accounting? The critical and creative voice of students.” Assess. Eval. High. Educ., 44(2), 216‒232. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2018.1492700.
SAICA. 2021. CA(SA) Competency framework. 2021. Guidance on the content, development and assessment of competencies in the academic programme. Johannesburg: SAICA.
SAICA. 2024. Membership statistics. Retrieved from https://www.saica.org.za/members/member-info/membership-statistics. Accessed 6 August 2024.
Salthouse, T. A. 2009. “When does age-related cognitive decline begin?” Neurobiology of ageing, 30(4), 507‒514.
Samkin, G. and L. Stainbank. 2016. “Teaching and learning: Current and future challenges facing accounting academics, academics, and the development of an agenda for future research”. Meditari Accountancy Research, 24(3), 294‒317.
Schleifer, L. L. F., and R. B. Dull. 2009. “Metacognition and performance in the accounting classroom”. Issues Account. Educ., 24(3), 339‒367. https://doi.org/10.2308/iace.2009.24.3.339.
Shavelson, R. J., O. Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, K. Beck, S. Schmidt, and J. P. Marino. 2019. “Assessment of university students' critical thinking: Next generation performance assessment.” Int. J. Test., 19(4), 337‒362. https://doi.org/10.1080/15305058.2018.1543309.
Shirrell, D. 2008. “Critical thinking as a predictor of success in an associate degree nursing program”. Teach. Learn. Nurs., 3(4), 131–136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.teln.2008.05.001.
Siburian, J., and A. D. Corebima. 2019. “The correlation between critical and creative thinking skills on cognitive learning results”. Eurasian J. Educ. Res., 81, 99‒114. https://doi.org/10.14689/ejer.2019.81.6.
Sternberg, R. J. 1986. Critical thinking: Its nature, measurement, and improvement. Retrieved from http://eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED272882.pdf. Accessed 9 November 2020.
Terblanche, E. A. J., and B. De Clercq. 2020) “Factors to consider for effective critical thinking development in auditing students”. SA J. Account. Res., 34(2), 96‒114. https://doi.org/10.1080/10291954.2019.1669293.
Vygotsky, L. S., and M. Cole. 1978. Mind in society: Development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press.
Wigfield, A., and J. S. Eccles. 2000. “Expectancy–value theory of achievement motivation”. Contemporary educational psychology, 25(1), 68–81.
Williams, R. L., R. Oliver, and S. L. Stockdale.. 2004.” Psychological versus generic critical thinking as predictors and outcome measures in a large undergraduate human development course”. J. Gen. Educ., 53(1), 37‒58. https://doi.org/10.1353/jge.2004.0022.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Elda du Toit, Zack Enslin
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
This journal is an open access journal, and the authors and journal should be properly acknowledged, when works are cited.
Authors, copyright holders, may use the publishers version for teaching purposes, in books, theses, dissertations, conferences and conference papers.
A copy of the authors' publishers version may also be hosted on the following websites:
- Non-commercial personal homepage or blog.
- Institutional webpage.
- Authors Institutional Repository.
The following notice should accompany such a posting on the website: This is an electronic version of an article published in SAJHE, Volume XXX, number XXX, pages XXX “XXX", DOI. Authors should also supply a hyperlink to the original paper or indicate where the original paper (http://www.journals.ac.za/index.php/SAJHE) may be found.
Authors publishers version, affiliated with the Stellenbosch University will be automatically deposited in the University Institutional Repository SUNScholar.
Articles as a whole, may not be re-published with another journal.
The following license applies:
Attribution CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
