Due to the versatile nature of accounting, persons with an interest in accounting need to develop their cognitive skills:
KNOWLEDGE: ability to remember previously learned material such as specifics, criteria, techniques, principles, and procedures (e.g., identify, define, list),
COMPREHENSION: ability to grasp and interpret the meaning of material (e.g., classify, explain, distinguish between),
APPLICATION: ability to use learned material in new and concrete situations e.g., demonstrate, predict, solve),
ANALYSIS: ability to break down material into its component parts so that its organizational structure can be understood; ability to recognize causal relationships, discriminate between behavior mechanisms, and identify elements that are relevant to the validation of a judgment (e.g., differentiate, estimate, order),
SYNTHESIS: ability to put parts together to form a new whole or proposed set of operations; ability to relate ideas and formulate hypotheses (e.g., combine, formulate, revise), and
EVALUATION: ability to judge the value of material for a given purpose on the basis of consistency, logical accuracy, and comparison to standards; ability to appraise judgments involved in the selection of a course of action (e.g., criticize, justify, conclude).
KNOWLEDGE: ability to remember previously learned material such as specifics, criteria, techniques, principles, and procedures (e.g., identify, define, list),
COMPREHENSION: ability to grasp and interpret the meaning of material (e.g., classify, explain, distinguish between),
APPLICATION: ability to use learned material in new and concrete situations e.g., demonstrate, predict, solve),
ANALYSIS: ability to break down material into its component parts so that its organizational structure can be understood; ability to recognize causal relationships, discriminate between behavior mechanisms, and identify elements that are relevant to the validation of a judgment (e.g., differentiate, estimate, order),
SYNTHESIS: ability to put parts together to form a new whole or proposed set of operations; ability to relate ideas and formulate hypotheses (e.g., combine, formulate, revise), and
EVALUATION: ability to judge the value of material for a given purpose on the basis of consistency, logical accuracy, and comparison to standards; ability to appraise judgments involved in the selection of a course of action (e.g., criticize, justify, conclude).
In addition to the cognitive skills, persons with an interest in accounting have to develop a number of other competencies including communication, leadership, decision-making, teamwork, technology, and learning to learn.
The focus of accounting continues to shift from a process of knowing to a process of having access to information and knowing how to use the information creatively to solve problems. The change in accounting education has been from teaching to learning and thinking, and from passive learning (teacher-centered) to active learning (student-centered).