Breda Sweeney is Professor of Accounting at the J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics, University of Galway. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce from University of Galway, a Master of Accounting from University College Dublin, and a PhD from Dublin City University. Breda is a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland and trained professionally with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Dublin and Sydney. She previously lectured at UCD and has served as Head of Discipline of Accountancy & Finance (2010–2022) and as a member of the University of Galway Governing Authority.
Her research focuses on management control systems, performance measurement, and organizational tensions, exploring how these systems enable innovation and ambidexterity. She has published widely in top international journals and her work has influenced audit regulation in the U.S. Breda is joint editor of Accounting, Finance, and Governance Review, serves on editorial boards of leading journals, and co-chairs the EIASM conference on New Directions in Management Accounting. She has held visiting positions at Stockholm School of Economics, VU Amsterdam, Esade Business School, and University of Canterbury.