Biography

Dr. Kate Sorensen is a behavioral researcher focusing on auditor judgment and decision making in public accounting firms related to areas such as communication medium, team dynamics, alternative work arrangements, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. She also researches emerging technologies in accounting practice and accounting education to examine how they are changing auditors and auditing curriculum. 

She completed her PhD (Business Administration-Accounting) at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, and both her Master of Accountancy (Audit and Controls) and Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (Accounting) from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She also minored in Cinema Studies and Logistics & Transportation. 

Dr. Sorensen has been a licensed CPA since 2010 and spent three years working in the Advisory Practice at Deloitte and Touche in Atlanta, GA where she specialized in serving clients in banking and consumer products. Before obtaining her PhD, she spent two years teaching Accounting, Finance, and Economics at a university in the Henan Province of central China. In her spare time, she loves to travel and has visited over 30 countries on five continents.

Teaching 

ACCT 3110, ACCT 4240, ACCT 7242

Awards

• George Johnson Teaching Fellowship, FCBE, University of Memphis, 2023-2026 
• Engaged Creative Teaching Excellence Award, FCBE, University of Memphis, 2021 
  
• Asthagiri Sekaran Most Outstanding Female PhD Student, Southern Illinois University, 2016 

Research

Dr. Kate Sorensen discusses recent research on The Impact of Upward Feedback on Employee Performance:

Publications

Raddatz, N., Raddatz P., Sorensen, K., & Ogunade, K. (2023). The Adverse Effects of the “Anticipation of Racial Discrimination” on Auditors who are Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (BIPOC): An Exploratory Study with Research Propositions. Forthcoming at Accounting Horizons. 

Wood, D. A., Achhpilia, M. P., Adams, M. T., Aghazadeh, S., Sorensen, K, and others. (2023). The ChatGPT Artificial Intelligence Chatbot: How Well Does It Answer Accounting Assessment Questions?. Issues in Accounting Education, 38(4),1-28. 

Sorensen, K., Edmonds, M., Blix, L., & Edmonds, C. (2023). The Flipped Accounting Course: Best Practices and Experiences. Journal of Theoretical Accounting Research, 18(3), 1-21. 

Vagner, B., Blix, L. H., Ortegren, M., & Sorensen, K. (2022). Upward feedback falling on deaf ears: the effect on provider organizational citizenship and counterproductive work behaviors in the audit profession. Managerial Auditing Journal, 37(1), 17-38. 

Blix, L. H., Ortegren, M., Sorensen, K., & Vagner, B. (2021). The relationship between justice perceptions and organizational commitment among alternative work arrangement participants and non-participants. Managerial Auditing Journal, 36(8), 1092-1113. 

Blix, L., Edmonds, M., & Sorensen, K. (2021). How well do audit textbooks currently integrate data analytics. Journal of Accounting Education, 55, 100717. 

Sorensen, K., & Ortegren, M. (2021). The next best thing: Social presence and accountability's impact on auditor professional skepticism. Journal of Corporate Accounting & Finance, 32(2), 39-51. 

Blix, L., Edmonds, M., & Sorensen, K. (2021) Social Media Policies Matter: Is Internal Audit Up for The Challenge?” The CPA Journal, August 2021.