Dr Dennis De Widt
Senior Lecturer in Accounting and Finance
- dewidtd@cardiff.ac.uk
- +44 (0)29 2087 6569
- Room R32, Aberconway Building, Colum Road, Cathays, Cardiff, CF10 3EU
- Available for postgraduate supervision
Overview
Dennis de Widt is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Accounting & Finance at Cardiff Business School, which he joined in August 2017. After graduating from Leiden University, the Netherlands, he worked as a Junior Researcher at the Centre for Public Sector Reform at Leiden University. He moved to the UK in 2011 to conduct his PhD at Queen Mary University of London, conducting a European comparative study of the impact of intergovernmental financial structures on local government debt. Subsequently, he worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Exeter Business School where his EU funded research focused on tax compliance initiatives for large businesses.
Dennis’ research in the areas of public sector finances and accounting is characterised by a strong interdisciplinary, and often international comparative approach. His publications have appeared in a range of journals including the British Tax Review, Financial Accountability & Management, Government Information Quarterly, Public Administration, and Regional Studies. He is an Independent Adviser to the Welsh Government’s Local Government Finance Distribution Group, an Associate Research Fellow of the Tax Administration Research Centre (TARC) at the University of Exeter Business School, and Co-Director of the Cardiff Interdisciplinary Taxation Research Group.
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)
- FHEA - Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
- Dip IPSAS - Diploma in International Public Sector Accounting Standards (CIFPA)
Previous positions
- Post Doc European Union Horizon 2020 FairTax research project (University
of Exeter Business School, Tax Administration Research Centre) - Junior Researcher at the Centre for Public Sector Reform (Leiden University)
Publications
2021
- De Widt, D., Llewelyn, I. and Thorogood, T. 2021. Liberalising audit markets for local government: The five forces at work in England and the Netherlands. Financial Accountability and Management (10.1111/faam.12302)
- 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., Llewelyn, I. and Thorogood, T. 2020. Stakeholder attitudes towards audit credibility in English local government: A post-audit commission analysis. Financial Accountability and Management (10.1111/faam.12267)
- 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. 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)
- 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
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)
Teaching
Teaching commitments
- Performance & Financial Management (Undergraduate, year 2)
- Dissertation (Undergraduate, year 3)
- MBA Business projects
- MSc dissertations
Research interests
- Intergovernmental and local government finances
- Public budgeting and accounting
- Public sector auditing
- Tax policy and administration (including transfer pricing)
Research projects and consultancies
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.
Recent grants:
- 'Determinants of Audit Fees in the UK University Sector', Cardiff Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme (CUROP), £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, £27,000, Principal Investigator. Report available via: https://www.psaa.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/PSAA-Appointing-Person-evaluation-final-report.pdf
