Since graduating with her PhD in 2016 Louise has lectured in finance, accounting, corporate governance and sustainability reporting. Her research interests are primarily in corporate governance and sustainability reporting. Having published work in these areas Louise is an active participant in the academic community. She also regularly engages with, and delivers professional training to, practitioners and professional bodies, and is an independent non-executive director.
Much of Louise’s current work involves education and research related to emerging sustainability reporting requirements under the European Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. With colleagues, Louise has published research on the challenges encountered by SMEs in sustainability reporting from the accountant’s perspective. Based on data collected from members of the main accounting bodies in Ireland, findings indicate that SMEs typically cannot afford to invest in the human and technological resources required to aggregate, manage and report sustainability data despite pressures from value chain partners. The research calls for increased funding for SMEs to invest in sustainability reporting systems from public and private sources. The findings also highlight the importance of pursuing the voluntary SME sustainability reporting standards at EU level.