Featured Faculty: Assistant Professor Kerri-Ann Sanderson
Biography
Kerri-Ann Sanderson, Phd, CPA is an assistant professor in the Accountancy department at Bentley University. She is a former Big4 auditor and is a certified public accountant (CPA) with 10 years of experience in public accounting, internal auditing and corporate budgeting with Fortune 500 companies. Her research focus is in experimental-behavioral auditing topics specifically in the areas of auditor judgment and decision making, and internal auditing. Kerri-Ann's research is published in leading journals such as Contemporary Accounting Research, Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory, Behavioral Research in Accounting, and Journal of Information Systems. She serves on the editorial boards of Accounting Horizons, Current Issues in Auditing, and Journal of Information Systems. Her teaching interest is in accounting information systems. She is an AICPA Doctoral Fellow and a KPMG Foundation PhD Project Doctoral Fellow.
Visit Assistant Professor Sanderson's faculty page for interests, awards, honors and publications
I was always fascinated by how ubiquitous business is. It is everywhere! Regardless of your expertise, if you want to make a living from it, you must understand the business side of it. Accounting is the language of business which makes mastery of this subject paramount and critical for business success. Becoming a CPA demonstrates my proficiency and mastery, and I encourage everyone to pursue the designation. It differentiates you in the field.
When I started working at Bentley, I taught Accounting Information Systems to undergraduates. Over time, I transitioned to teaching the graduate version of this course – Business Processes and Systems Assessment. Both of these courses allow me to share my many experiences as an information systems professional who has implemented enterprise systems and helped organizations design processes.
Having worked as an auditor in a Big Four public accounting firm as well as an internal auditor and financial analyst in a corporate setting, I am acutely interested in understanding the effects of auditors’ strategies to improve audit quality. Accordingly, my research focuses on the effects of three contemporary strategies auditors employ to improve audit quality: (1) relying on the work of others to execute the audit, (2) increasing innovation on the audit, and (3) improving tone at the top and audit culture. I am excited about the prospect of continuing to conduct research that makes a significant impact on the accounting literature and the profession. I am especially excited to pursue research to better understand how variations in data visualizations and data analytics techniques can improve auditor attention to audit evidence and improve their judgments.
In addition to providing a well-rounded accounting education, Bentley’s program provides graduates with an understanding of the role of data analytics in accounting as well as hands-on experience with data analytics techniques and technologies in real-world business contexts. As technology becomes more and more powerful, and as business data proliferates, it will only become more important for our graduates to be able to understand the interaction between data and accounting, and to learn how to manipulate the data themselves.
Honestly, I most enjoy the conversations I have with Bentley’s graduate accounting students. I find students are sharp, witty, and engaging. I truly believe I learn as much from them as they learn from me. Our conversations during as well as after class inspire me to stay current in my discipline and challenge me to continue life-long learning.