Critical Thinking for the Federal Auditor
https://www.dau.edu
critical thinking, such as decisionmodeling and problem solving. However, when asked to rank the threemost important competencies, they identifed strategic critical thinking as the third out of 18 competencies. The mixed response is of concern given the importance of strategic critical thinking to thework of the federal auditor. Numerous researchers have found strategic critical thinking to be important for the profession of accounting/ auditing (Bolt-Lee & Foster, 2003; Daigle, Hayes, &Hughes, 2007; Gupta & Marshall, 2010; Jim, Damtew, Banatte, & Mapp, 2009; Kaciuba & Siegel, 2009; Thomas, 2000). Auditors require the critical thinking skills that allow for analyzing business risk (McKnight &Wright, 2011). The federal auditor’s intent on meeting the rigidity of auditing standards or preoccupation with the knowledge content required for passing the CPA exam may account for the low standing of critical thinking as a required competency. University accounting programs continue to stress content memorization required for passing the CPA exam instead of emphasizing the critical thinking skills required of auditors by employers (Gupta & Marshall, 2010). The implications of this finding are significant with regard to what an already overburdened accounting curriculumcanbe expected to deliver. The accounting course of study is currently expected to provide training in the emerging areas of forensic accounting, the international fnancial reporting standards, and enhanced internal controls resulting fromSarbanes-Oxley legislation, but still deliver the knowledge content demanded by the CPA exam. The inclusion of other important competencies such as ethics, identifcation of fraud, information literacy, communication capabilities, and strategic critical thinking challenges accounting faculty to fnd the time to introduce these topics without displacing other key topics in accounting courses (Young &Warren, 2011). Faculty are additionally subject to what Vance and Stephens (2010, p. 6) refer to as the increasing pressures within colleges to “acquiesce to the needs” of the current generationwhose sufciency in a well-developedwork ethic is questioned by the authors. In fact, these authors specifcally note the absence of competencies such as behavioral drive and self-motivation. While the responsibility of educating accounting students includes preparation for professional work and professional identity (Wilkerson, 2010), the research indicates graduate education or employer training programsmay be better able to address the development of strategic critical thinking skills.
16
Defense ARJ, January 2020, Vol. 27No. 1 : 2-26
Made with FlippingBook Learn more on our blog