The ability to think critically is widely acknowledged as an important skill that graduates should possess ( The Pathways Commission, 2012). This has resulted in many calls for higher education to better prepare graduates for work (Grasgreen, 2013, p.10) through student-centered learning including critical thinking. Many professional bodies, have voiced concerns that students should acquire skills and strategies to make them effective workers rather than becoming ardent consumer of facts and information. Such skills are often termed core professional competencies International Accounting Education Standards Board (2009).

Equally significant are calls from employers. References to critical thinking in graduate job postings “have doubled since 2009” (Korn, 2014). A report to the Association of American Colleges and Universities noted: 91 percent of employers agree that the ability to think critically is more important than a tertiary major; and strong endorsement from employers and students for the value of applied learning (Hart Research Associates, 2015). Several studies highlight similar concerns.

Most definitions of critical thinking include concepts such as reasoning, judgment, procedural knowledge, meta-cognition, reflection, questioning and justification (Fischer, S.C., Spiker, V.A. and Riedel, S.L. 2000). It is “thinking that is purposeful, reasoned, and goal directed – the kind of thinking involved in solving problems, formulating inferences, calculating likelihoods, and making decisions, when the thinker is using skills that are thoughtful and effective for the particular context and type of thinking task” (Halpern, 2014,). Despite widespread recognition of the importance of critical thinking, there is consistent evidence of more needing to be done to equip students with this skill (Arum and Roksa, 2011).

In the case of accounting education, critical thinking must be taught in the context of accounting’s professional and scholarly learning (Jones & Mackdonald, 2010). Approaches that are devised to achieve this goal must be geared towards solving real problems in a real world ( Hansen, 2006). Although problem solving is often employed as a strategy for teaching critical thinking so that students develop this skill and its related reasoning, a problem-based task must be broader and more complex than a simple problem (Kurfiss, 1988).

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