Dr. Neil Dunne

Assistant Professor, Trinity Business School

Biography

Dr Neil Dunne B.Comm, MSc Finance, FCA, PhD is an Assistant Professor in Accounting at Trinity Business School, and is also Programme Director for Trinity's Postgraduate Diploma in Accounting. An award-winning lecturer and researcher, Neil is a Chartered Accountant with many years' experience in both practice and industry. As a financial controller in industry, he was responsible for financing commercial assets valued at almost 1 billion euro. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from University College Cork, a Master's degree in Finance from Trinity with first-class honours achieved, and a PhD from University College Dublin. Prior to joining Trinity, Neil held positions in two other educational institutions in Dublin for almost seven years. He has been involved in course and syllabus design for a range of institutions in Ireland and France. Teaching responsibilities in Trinity include undergraduate and postgraduate modules in financial reporting. Neil also engages extensively in thesis supervision within the School. Neil's research takes an interdisciplinary and critical approach to audit and financial reporting, and mobilizes concepts such as impression management, strategic framing, institutional logics and Stoic philosophy. In connection with this, he has presented at a range of international conferences and doctoral seminars, and published in major international scientific journals such as Accounting, Organizations and Society and Critical Perspectives on Accounting. Neil has also served as a judge at Chartered Accountants Ireland's Published Accounts Awards, and serves on ACCA's University Steering Group.

Publications and Further Research Outputs

Peer-Reviewed Publications

Auditors in, editor(s)Lucey, B., Maher, E. and O'Brien, E. , Recalling the Celtic Tiger, Dublin, Peter Lang, 2019, pp21 - 22, [Dunne, N.J.]Book Chapter, 2019
IAS 39 in, editor(s)Lucey, B., Maher, E., and O'Brien, E. , Recalling the Celtic Tiger, Dublin, Peter Lang, 2019, pp167 - 168, [Dunne, N.J.]Book Chapter, 2019
Dunne, N.J,. Brennan, N.M. & Kirwan, C.E., Impression management and Big Four auditors: Scrutiny at a public inquiry, Accounting, Organizations and Society, 88, (101170), 2021, p1 - 20Journal Article, 2021
Dunne, N.J., Calm in the storm: Managing online assessment during a pandemic. Available at https://academic-practice.com/2021/10/04/333/ , 2021, -Miscellaneous, 2021
Dunne, N.J,. Brennan, N.M. & Kirwan, C.E., Blameless and powerless: How the Big Four react to public scrutiny. Available at https://cobsinsights.org/2021/09/23/blameless-and-powerless-how-the-big-four-react-to-public-scrutiny/, 2021, -Miscellaneous, 2021
Dunne, N.J,. Brennan, N.M. & Kirwan, C.E., How the Big Four maintain and defend logic equilibrium at concurrent performances, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 94, (102479), 2023Journal Article, 2023
Dunne, N. J., Brennan, N. M., & Kirwan, C. E., The Big Four versus a competition regulator: A strategic framing perspective., 2023Working Paper, 2023
Dunne, N.J., Exit your comfort zone: five tips for new Programme Managers. Available at https://accountingcafe.org/2024/03/21/programme-managers/, 2024, -Miscellaneous, 2024

My research takes an interdisciplinary and interpretive approach to audit and financial reporting. In particular, I apply sociological and philosophical concepts to study the behavior and experiences of individuals and firms in the accounting and auditing professions. I apply concepts popularized by the sociologist Erving Goffman, such as impression management and strategic framing, to organizational contexts, such as the behavior of accounting firms in their annual reviews and in their responses to the scrutiny emanating from public and regulatory inquiries. For instance, building on prior sociological and organizational work, I devised a typology of impression management strategies that accounting firms use when defending against public scrutiny. I am also interested in the nature, origin and influence of institutional logics on large and small accounting firms, and in how these institutional logics (e.g., the professional and commercial logics, amongst others) affect and are affected by the individuals that comprise these firms, as well as the role of Stoic philosophy and image repair as it pertains to accounting. Much of my research has achieved not only academic impact via publication in leading international journals, but has also attained practitioner impact through publication on websites such as the Council of Business and Society.

Sociology and related studies, Economics and Business Administration, Social sciences,

Recognition

Teaching Excellence Award, Trinity Business School June 2024
Teaching Excellence Award, Trinity Business School June 2021
Teaching Excellence Award, Trinity Business School June 2020
Teaching Excellence Award, Trinity Business School June 2023
Research Excellence Award, Trinity Business School June 2021
Teaching Excellence Award, Trinity Business School June 2017
Winner of Doctoral Research Funding Competition, Irish Accounting & Finance Association May 2016
Teaching Excellence Award, Trinity Business School June 2022
Teaching Excellence Award, Trinity Business School June 2018
Sue Hrasky Doctoral Scholarship, Financial Reporting and Business Communication Research Unit April 2015
Winner of Doctoral Research Funding Competition, Irish Accounting & Finance Association May 2015
Teaching Excellence Award, Trinity Business School June 2015
Teaching Excellence Award, Trinity Business School June 2019

British Accounting and Finance Association Present
ACCA University Steering Group Present
European Accounting Association Present
Irish Accounting and Finance Association Present
Fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland Present
Alternative Accounting Research Network Present
British Accounting and Finance Association (BAFA) IPSIG Committee Present

Reviewer, British Accounting Review Ongoing
Textbook reviewer, Pearson Publishers Ongoing
Reviewer, Contemporary Accounting Research Ongoing
Reviewer, Accounting, Finance and Governance Review Ongoing
Reviewer, Accounting, Finance and Governance Review Ongoing
Reviewer, European Accounting Review Ongoing
Textbook author (questions), Cengage Publishing 2022
Facilitator and Mentor, IAFA Doctoral Colloquium. Ongoing
Reviewer, Critical Perspectives on Accounting Ongoing
Textbook reviewer, Oxford University Press Ongoing