Unlocking the potential: enhancing higher-order thinking skills in accounting education

Abstract

ABSTRACT In addition to technical expertise, businesses require accounting graduates to have enhanced higher-order thinking skills (HOTS), such as evaluative and creative skills. Higher education scholars describe pedagogical practices that help students develop HOTS and emphasise the importance for preparing students for career success. Using a qualitative research design, I examine the pedagogical practices of accounting faculty teaching in the United States using data from 25 semi-structured interviews. I find that accounting faculty emphasise application and analysis HOTS more than evaluative and creative HOTS. This study offers insights into how minor adjustments to existing practices can facilitate students’ progression up Bloom's taxonomy (1956), fostering the development of evaluative and creative skills across various accounting sub-disciplines. Students’ mastery of evaluative and creative skill sets is critical to competency development and career success as emerging technologies already routinely apply and analyse data.