Meghann Cefaratti
Deloitte Foundation Professor of Accountancy
Director of Certifications and Licensure
Director of Internal Audit Education Partnership
Department
Education
- Ph.D., Virginia Tech, Accounting
- M.B.A., University of Maryland - College Park
- M.S., University of Maryland - College Park, Marketing
- B.S., University of Maryland - College Park, Finance
- B.S., University of Maryland - College Park, Accounting
Certifications and Awards
- Certified Internal Auditor (CIA)
- Certification in Risk Management Assurance (CRMA)
- AAA Forensic Accounting Section’s Best Dissertation Award 2011
- NIU Department of Accountancy Impact Award
- AAA’s George Krull/Grant Thornton Innovation in Junior- and Senior-Level Teaching Award, Honorable Mention
Teaching Areas
- Auditing
- Financial reporting
Research Interests
- Auditing
- Fraud
- Accounting education
Biography
Meghann Abell Cefaratti, Ph.D., CIA, CRMA is the Deloitte Foundation Professor of Accountancy at Northern Illinois University (NIU) and joined the NIU faculty in 2009. She serves as the director of Certifications and Licensure and as the director of the Internal Audit Education Partnership. Professor Cefaratti is a former auditor for the Air Force Audit Agency (AFAA) where her audit coverage included Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, the Pentagon and various Air National Guard installations. Prior to working with the AFAA, she worked as a tax associate for PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) in Baltimore, Maryland.
Cefaratti loved auditing with the AFAA and learned so much with PwC but being a professor has always been her dream. She is excited to help her students prepare for a career in which they can make a difference and have a positive impact on others. Accounting offers so many opportunities and Cefaratti can attest to getting to be a part of audits that she never imagined being a part of when she was in college. As a professor, each semester she meets amazing students and hears about their dreams. She hopes to help them along their path as they consider the many careers that are possible with a degree in accounting, and she helps them plan for the certifications that move them closer to their goals.
Cefaratti earned her Ph.D. from Virginia Tech and her dissertation received the 2011 Best Dissertation Award from the Forensic Accounting Section of the American Accounting Association (AAA). Her primary research interest involves the study of the effect of corroborating evidence on auditors’ fraud risk assessment judgments. Her research has been published in the Issues in Accounting Education, Journal of Information Systems, Journal of the Association for Information Systems, Internal Auditing, Journal of Forensic and Investigative Accounting, Internal Auditor, and ISACA Journal Online. She has presented her research at national conferences such as the AAA's Annual Meeting and the Mid-Year Research Conference for the Forensic Accounting Section of the AAA.
Cefaratti serves on the editorial board of Issues in Accounting Education. She has served as program chair and paper chair for the AAA’s Forensic Accounting Section and as a guest editor for the Journal of Forensic Accounting Research.
Cefaratti teaches auditing and financial reporting. She is a member of the American Accounting Association, the Institute of Internal Auditors, and the Illinois CPA Society where she serves as the academic member on the Audit and Assurance Services Committee. She has contributed to CPA and CIA reviews as an author, instructor and content developer for UWorld CPA Review and Wiley CPAexcel.
