She earned her bachelor’s degree in accounting from Renmin University of China (1996), master’s degree in accounting from University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (2001), and doctoral degree in accounting from Texas A&M (2007). She has published papers in Contemporary Accounting Research, Management Science, and Review of Accounting Studies. Prof. Cao currently serves on the Editorial Board of the Accounting Horizons and the International Journal of Accounting. Her research interests include corporate disclosure and financial reporting quality, managerial incentives and executive compensation, financial analysts, etc. Prof. Cao has taught financial accounting, auditing, and corporate governance to undergraduate and master students. She was a certified public accountant of China and worked at Deloitte Touch Tohmatsu LLP.