Cassandra Estep

Cassandra Estep serves as an Associate Professor of Accounting at Emory University's Goizueta Business School, where she has held faculty position since 2016 following her PhD completion at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her professional background includes six years of practical experience as an IT auditor with Ernst & Young.

Her academic qualifications include:

• PhD in Accountancy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• BS in Commerce, University of Virginia

Professor Estep's research program centers on behavioral dimensions of auditing, specifically examining judgment and decision-making processes in complex audit environments involving information technology specialists and emerging AI systems. Her work investigates critical issues including auditor-specialist integration dynamics, consequences of internal control reporting, and human responses to technological disruption in financial reporting. Published across premier journals including The Accounting Review and Journal of Accounting Research, her research bridges theoretical frameworks from social psychology with practical auditing challenges.

Analysis of her recent publications reveals a clear trajectory toward understanding AI's transformative impact on auditing ecosystems, with her 2024 Review of Accounting Studies paper demonstrating nuanced interactions between company and auditor AI adoption that affect financial reporting outcomes. Concurrently, her work on auditor-IT specialist relationship dynamics provides actionable insights for improving team coordination and audit quality in technology-intensive engagements.