Breda Sweeney holds a first class honours Bachelor of Commerce degree from University of Galway, a first class honours Master of Accounting degree from UCD and a PhD degree from DCU. She is a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland, having professionally trained in PricewaterhouseCoopers in Dublin and Sydney. She previously lectured at UCD for 5 years. She is joint editor of Accounting, Finance, and Governance Review and serves on the editorial board of Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal and International Journal of Auditing. She is co-chair of EIASM conference New Directions in Management Accounting. Breda was a visiting professor in Stockholm School of Economics (2022), VU Amsterdam (2022), Esade Business School, Barcelona (2014) and an Erskine fellow in University of Canterbury in 2016. She was Head of Discipline of Accountancy nd Finance 2010-2022 and a member of University of Galway Governing Authority 2016-2020. Breda's research is in the field of organisational performance measurement and management. Using both qualitative and quantitative research methods, her research projects havefocused on the role of management control systems in enabling innovation and organisational ambidexterity and in managing organisational tensions. She has also examined the responses of individuals to pressures induced by management control systems. Her research studies have investigated management control issues in a number of different contexts including audit firms, medical device companies and green energy construction companies. Her work has had wide-ranging impact and is cited by PCAOB in a number of recent audit regulations in US. Recent research projects include a CIMA funded project on use of technology in finance functions (with Prof Josep Bisbe and Dr Mike Farrell) and a Chartered Accountants Ireland funded study on management control and scaling (with Dr Marjo Vaisanen). Her work has informed her teaching of management control modules to postgraduate accounting and MBA students. 

Bredas research interests are in the field of performance management. Specifically, she is interested in how management use control systems to foster innovation and managetensions in innovative industries. She has previously examined management control in audit firms andbusiness ethics. She has published widely in these areas in international accounting and business journals.

Introductory Accounting, Management Accounting (undergraduate), Management Control Systems (postgraduate),Accounting for Managers (EMBA),Performance Management, Ethics and Governance (EMBA)