![Dennis De Widt](https://profiles-cardiff.imgix.net/attachments/73?w=200&h=200&auto=format&crop=faces&fit=crop&q=90")
Dr Dennis De Widt
- Available for postgraduate supervision
Teams and roles for Dennis De Widt
Reader in Accounting and Finance
Overview
I am a Reader (Associate Professor) in Accounting & Finance at Cardiff Business School. My research focuses on public sector accounting and taxation, with particular emphasis on the institutional dimensions of public audit, tax administration, and local government finances. I have conducted empirical studies across a range of public sector contexts — including local authorities, hospitals, and state-owned enterprises — using both quantitative and qualitative research methods. In the area of taxation, my work has focused on tax administration arrangements involving corporate taxpayers.
My research often takes an interdisciplinary and internationally comparative approach, with previous work spanning the UK (including its devolved regions), Germany, the Netherlands, the United States, and South Africa.
My work has been published in leading academic journals, such as Abacus, British Tax Review, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Financial Accountability & Management, Government Information Quarterly, Public Administration, and Regional Studies.
I am an experienced educator, teaching across undergraduate, postgraduate, and executive education programmes, and I have supervised multiple doctoral researchers to completion. I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and have served as an external examiner both in the UK and internationally, including at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.
I also contribute to academic and policy communities through the following roles:
- Founding Director of PACCFINTAX, the Public Sector Accounting, Finance and Taxation Research Group at Cardiff Business School
- Independent Adviser to the Welsh Government’s Local Government Finance Distribution Group
- Executive Board Member of the BAFA (British Accounting & Finance Association) Special Interest Group for Public Services and Charities
- Associate Fellow of the Tax Administration Research Centre, at the University of Exeter Bussiness School
Publication
2025
- Kitchener, M., De Widt, D. and Bayliss, R. 2025. Auditing public value strategy: lessons from Wales. In: Bracci, E., Weichselberger, G. K. and Russo, S. eds. Public Value Accounting: Current Issues and Future Trends. Emerald Publishing Limited
- Anggoro, A., Corcoran, P., De Widt, D. and Li, Y. 2025. Harmonized system code classification using supervised contrastive learning with sentence BERT and multiple negative ranking loss. Data Technologies and Applications 59(2), pp. 279-301. (10.1108/DTA-01-2024-0052)
- Sun, S., De Widt, D. and Andrews, R. 2025. Knowledge commercialization and university audit fees: A UK-based study. Financial Accountability & Management: in Governments, Public Services and Charities (10.1111/faam.12434)
- De Widt, D., Maroun, W. and Atkins, J. 2025. Neutralizing deviance at state-owned enterprises: The case of South African Airways. Abacus: A Journal of Accounting, Finance and Business Studies (10.1111/abac.12353)
2024
- De Widt, D. 2024. Conflicting institutional pressures during the establishment of tax administrations in the Post-1990 eastern German states. German Politics (10.1080/09644008.2024.2440883)
- De Widt, D. and Mulligan, E. 2024. The accountability of collaborative innovations in tax administration: A Dutch-US comparison. International Public Management Journal 27(6), pp. 874-895. (10.1080/10967494.2024.2315183)
- Baylis, R. M., De Widt, D., Helikum, L. J. and Ashworth, R. 2024. Debate: The lack of public sector accounting education within universities and what is next. Public Money & Management 44(5), pp. 347-348. (10.1080/09540962.2024.2333613)
- De Widt, D. and Oats, L. 2024. Imagining cooperative tax regulation: Common origins, divergent paths. Critical Perspectives On Accounting 99, article number: 102446. (10.1016/j.cpa.2022.102446)
2023
- Baylis, R. and De Widt, D. 2023. Debate: The future of public sector audit training. Public Money & Management 43(3), pp. 217-218. (10.1080/09540962.2022.2109881)
- Anggoro, A. W., Corcoran, P., De Widt, D. and Li, Y. 2023. Using DistilBERT to assign HS codes to international trading transactions. Presented at: World Conference on Information Systems and Technologies, Pisa, Italy, 4 - 6 April 2023.
2022
- De Widt, D., Llewelyn, I. and Thorogood, T. 2022. Liberalising audit markets for local government: The five forces at work in England and the Netherlands. Financial Accountability and Management 38(3), pp. 394-425. (10.1111/faam.12302)
- Mulligan, E., Bassey, E., De Widt, D., Greggi, M., Kiesewetter, D. and Oats, L. 2022. Regulation of intermediaries, including tax advisers, in the EU/Member States and best practices from inside and outside the EU. Technical Report.
- De Widt, D., Llewelyn, I. and Thorogood, T. 2022. Stakeholder attitudes towards audit credibility in English local government: A post-audit commission analysis. Financial Accountability and Management 38(1), pp. 29-55. (10.1111/faam.12267)
- De Widt, D. 2022. Cooperative compliance: a multi-stakeholder and sustainable approach to taxation, by Jeffrey Owens and Jonathan Leigh Pemberton (eds) [Book Review]. British Tax Review(2), pp. 241-244.
2021
- De Widt, D., Thorogood, T. and Llewelyn, I. 2021. Monitoring local government financial sustainability: a Dutch-English comparison. In: Geissler, R., Hammerschmid, G. and Raffer, C. eds. Local Public Finance: An International Comparative Regulatory Perspective. Springer, Cham, pp. 131-152., (10.1007/978-3-030-67466-3_8)
- De Widt, D. 2021. The impact of demographic trends on local government financial reserves: evidence from England. Local Government Studies 47(3), pp. 405-428. (10.1080/03003930.2021.1877665)
2020
- De Widt, D. and Oats, L. 2020. Co-operative compliance: The U.K. evolutionary model. In: Hein, R. and Russo, R. eds. Co-operative Compliance and the OECD’s International Compliance Assurance Programme., Vol. 68. EUCOTAX Series on European Taxation Alphen aan den Rijn: Kluwer Law International, pp. 213-230.
2019
- De Widt, D., Oats, L. and Mulligan, E. 2019. The US compliance assurance process: a relational signalling perspective. Journal of Tax Administration 5(1), pp. 145-161.
2018
- De Widt, D. and Panagiotopoulos, P. 2018. Informal networking in the public sector: Mapping local government debates in a period of austerity. Government Information Quarterly 35(3), pp. 375-388. (10.1016/j.giq.2018.05.004)
- De Widt, D. and Laffin, M. 2018. Representing territorial diversity: the role of local government associations. Regional Studies 52(11), pp. 1585-1594. (10.1080/00343404.2018.1462488)
- De Widt, D., Llewelyn, I. and Thorogood, T. 2018. Review of lessons learned by Public Sector Audit Appointments Limited in its role as an Appointing Person 2016–18. Technical Report.
2017
- De Widt, D. and Oats, L. 2017. Risk assessment in a cooperative compliance context: a Dutch-UK comparison. British Tax Review 2017(2), pp. 230-248.
- De Widt, D. 2017. Dutch horizontal monitoring: the handicap of a head start. Working paper. FairTaxProject. Available at: https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1142129/FULLTEXT01.pdf
- De Widt, D. 2017. The sustainability of local government finances in England, Germany and the Netherlands: the impact of intergovernmental regulatory regimes. In: Bolivar, M. ed. Financial Sustainability in Public Administrations. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 193-225., (10.1007/978-3-319-57962-7_8)
2016
- De Widt, D. 2016. Top-down and bottom-up: Institutional effects on debt and grants at the English and German local level. Public Administration 94(3), pp. 664-684. (10.1111/padm.12251)
Articles
- Anggoro, A., Corcoran, P., De Widt, D. and Li, Y. 2025. Harmonized system code classification using supervised contrastive learning with sentence BERT and multiple negative ranking loss. Data Technologies and Applications 59(2), pp. 279-301. (10.1108/DTA-01-2024-0052)
- Sun, S., De Widt, D. and Andrews, R. 2025. Knowledge commercialization and university audit fees: A UK-based study. Financial Accountability & Management: in Governments, Public Services and Charities (10.1111/faam.12434)
- De Widt, D., Maroun, W. and Atkins, J. 2025. Neutralizing deviance at state-owned enterprises: The case of South African Airways. Abacus: A Journal of Accounting, Finance and Business Studies (10.1111/abac.12353)
- De Widt, D. 2024. Conflicting institutional pressures during the establishment of tax administrations in the Post-1990 eastern German states. German Politics (10.1080/09644008.2024.2440883)
- De Widt, D. and Mulligan, E. 2024. The accountability of collaborative innovations in tax administration: A Dutch-US comparison. International Public Management Journal 27(6), pp. 874-895. (10.1080/10967494.2024.2315183)
- Baylis, R. M., De Widt, D., Helikum, L. J. and Ashworth, R. 2024. Debate: The lack of public sector accounting education within universities and what is next. Public Money & Management 44(5), pp. 347-348. (10.1080/09540962.2024.2333613)
- De Widt, D. and Oats, L. 2024. Imagining cooperative tax regulation: Common origins, divergent paths. Critical Perspectives On Accounting 99, article number: 102446. (10.1016/j.cpa.2022.102446)
- Baylis, R. and De Widt, D. 2023. Debate: The future of public sector audit training. Public Money & Management 43(3), pp. 217-218. (10.1080/09540962.2022.2109881)
- De Widt, D., Llewelyn, I. and Thorogood, T. 2022. Liberalising audit markets for local government: The five forces at work in England and the Netherlands. Financial Accountability and Management 38(3), pp. 394-425. (10.1111/faam.12302)
- De Widt, D., Llewelyn, I. and Thorogood, T. 2022. Stakeholder attitudes towards audit credibility in English local government: A post-audit commission analysis. Financial Accountability and Management 38(1), pp. 29-55. (10.1111/faam.12267)
- De Widt, D. 2022. Cooperative compliance: a multi-stakeholder and sustainable approach to taxation, by Jeffrey Owens and Jonathan Leigh Pemberton (eds) [Book Review]. British Tax Review(2), pp. 241-244.
- De Widt, D. 2021. The impact of demographic trends on local government financial reserves: evidence from England. Local Government Studies 47(3), pp. 405-428. (10.1080/03003930.2021.1877665)
- De Widt, D., Oats, L. and Mulligan, E. 2019. The US compliance assurance process: a relational signalling perspective. Journal of Tax Administration 5(1), pp. 145-161.
- De Widt, D. and Panagiotopoulos, P. 2018. Informal networking in the public sector: Mapping local government debates in a period of austerity. Government Information Quarterly 35(3), pp. 375-388. (10.1016/j.giq.2018.05.004)
- De Widt, D. and Laffin, M. 2018. Representing territorial diversity: the role of local government associations. Regional Studies 52(11), pp. 1585-1594. (10.1080/00343404.2018.1462488)
- De Widt, D. and Oats, L. 2017. Risk assessment in a cooperative compliance context: a Dutch-UK comparison. British Tax Review 2017(2), pp. 230-248.
- De Widt, D. 2016. Top-down and bottom-up: Institutional effects on debt and grants at the English and German local level. Public Administration 94(3), pp. 664-684. (10.1111/padm.12251)
Book sections
- Kitchener, M., De Widt, D. and Bayliss, R. 2025. Auditing public value strategy: lessons from Wales. In: Bracci, E., Weichselberger, G. K. and Russo, S. eds. Public Value Accounting: Current Issues and Future Trends. Emerald Publishing Limited
- De Widt, D., Thorogood, T. and Llewelyn, I. 2021. Monitoring local government financial sustainability: a Dutch-English comparison. In: Geissler, R., Hammerschmid, G. and Raffer, C. eds. Local Public Finance: An International Comparative Regulatory Perspective. Springer, Cham, pp. 131-152., (10.1007/978-3-030-67466-3_8)
- De Widt, D. and Oats, L. 2020. Co-operative compliance: The U.K. evolutionary model. In: Hein, R. and Russo, R. eds. Co-operative Compliance and the OECD’s International Compliance Assurance Programme., Vol. 68. EUCOTAX Series on European Taxation Alphen aan den Rijn: Kluwer Law International, pp. 213-230.
- De Widt, D. 2017. The sustainability of local government finances in England, Germany and the Netherlands: the impact of intergovernmental regulatory regimes. In: Bolivar, M. ed. Financial Sustainability in Public Administrations. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 193-225., (10.1007/978-3-319-57962-7_8)
Conferences
- Anggoro, A. W., Corcoran, P., De Widt, D. and Li, Y. 2023. Using DistilBERT to assign HS codes to international trading transactions. Presented at: World Conference on Information Systems and Technologies, Pisa, Italy, 4 - 6 April 2023.
Monographs
- Mulligan, E., Bassey, E., De Widt, D., Greggi, M., Kiesewetter, D. and Oats, L. 2022. Regulation of intermediaries, including tax advisers, in the EU/Member States and best practices from inside and outside the EU. Technical Report.
- De Widt, D., Llewelyn, I. and Thorogood, T. 2018. Review of lessons learned by Public Sector Audit Appointments Limited in its role as an Appointing Person 2016–18. Technical Report.
- De Widt, D. 2017. Dutch horizontal monitoring: the handicap of a head start. Working paper. FairTaxProject. Available at: https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1142129/FULLTEXT01.pdf
- De Widt, D. and Laffin, M. 2018. Representing territorial diversity: the role of local government associations. Regional Studies 52(11), pp. 1585-1594. (10.1080/00343404.2018.1462488)
Research
Research interests
- Intergovernmental and local government finances
- Public budgeting and accounting
- Public sector auditing
- Tax policy and administration (including transfer pricing)
Research consultancies and external engagement
2022–current Executive Board Member of the BAFA (British Accounting & Finance Association) Special Interest Group for Public Services and Charities.
2019–current Independent Adviser to the Welsh Government’s Local Government Finance Distribution Sub-Group.
2017–current Associate Research Fellow of the Tax Administration Research Centre (TARC), University of Exeter Business School.
2023–current Governor and Chair of the Finance Committee of Roath Park Primary School, Cardiff.
Recent grants:
- Cardiff University-University of Illinois System Grants Programm, award for research visit to the Government Finance Research Center (GFRC) at the University of Illinois Chicago, £4,000, Principal Investigator (2025).
- 'Regulation of intermediaries, including tax advisers, in the EU/Member States and best practices from outside the EU', fund award European Parliament Subcommittee on Tax Matters (FISC), Co-I, £12,500 (spring 2022).
- 'Small businesses and the tax system' Cardiff University Civic Mission fund award, Co-I, £6,700 (summer 2022).
- 'Determinants of audit fees in the UK university sector', Cardiff Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme (CUROP), Principal Investigator, £2,250 (summer 2019).
- 'Independent Review of PSAA Appointing Person Project' (2018), funding award from the Local Government Association (LGA) to review Public Sector Audit Appointments Ltd., together with Dr Tim Thorogood and Iolo llewelyn, Principal Investigator, £27,000. Report available via: https://www.psaa.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/PSAA-Appointing-Person-evaluation-final-report.pdf
Academic honours & recognitions:
- Visiting Professorship Université de Poitiers, L'Institut d'administration des entreprises (IAE), spring 2025.
- Wiley award Top Cited Article in Financial Accountability & Management, 2023.
Reviewing and Editorial Board positions
Ad hoc reviewing for:
Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Accounting Forum, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Financial Accountability & Management, Global Finance Journal, Government Information Quarterly, International Review of Administrative Sciences, Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management, Journal of Tax Administration, Local Government Studies, Policy & Politics, Public Administration, Public Administration Review, Public Money & Management, Sustainability.
I am an Editorial Review Board member of the Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change.
I am currently guest-editor of a special issue for the journal Financial Accountability & Management.
Teaching
Teaching commitments
- Performance & Financial Management (Undergraduate, year 2)
- People & Finance (Postgraduate Diploma in Healthcare Planning)
- MSc dissertations
- PhD supervision
Teaching experience at Cardiff University
- MBA Business Projects dissertation supervisor
- Research Methods (MSc)
- Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Accounting (MSc)
- BSc Dissertation (Undergraduate, year 3)
Furthermore, Dennis has taught at Bristol University, Exeter University, Leiden University in the Netherlands, and Queen Mary University of London.
Teaching awards
- Nominated for the Cardiff University Enriching Student Life Award, 2025
- Nominated for the Cardiff University Enriching Student Life Award, 2020
Biography
Education
- PhD in Business and Management (Queen Mary University of London)
- MSc(Res) in Public Administration (Leiden University)
- MA in Economic History (Leiden University)
- BSc in Public Administration (Leiden University)
- BA in Economic History (Leiden University)
- Diploma in International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) (CIFPA, London)
- Certificate in Management and Financial Accounting (CIPFA, London)
- Diploma in Financial Management and Audit (CIPFA, London)
Professional memberships
- British Accounting & Finance Association (BAFA)
- Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accountancy (CIPFA)
- Comparative International Governmental Accounting Research Network (CIGAR)
- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
External examiner roles
- University of Leicester (2024 to date)
- University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Johannesburg (South Africa) (2024 to date)
Previous positions
- Senior Lecturer in Accounting and Finance, Cardiff Business School, 2020-2023
- Lecturer in Accounting and Finance, Cardiff Business School, 2017-2020
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow European Union Horizon FairTax research project, University of Exeter Business School, 2015-2017
- Junior Researcher at the Centre for Public Sector Reform, Leiden University, the Netherlands, 2010-2011
Supervisions
Current supervision
Contact Details
DeWidtD@cardiff.ac.uk
+44 29208 76569
Aberconway Building, Room Room R32, Colum Road, Cathays, Cardiff, CF10 3EU
+44 29208 76569
Aberconway Building, Room Room R32, Colum Road, Cathays, Cardiff, CF10 3EU
Specialisms
- Accounting
- Auditing and accountability
- Public sector organisation and management
- Taxation and revenue