Derry Cotter is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland and lectures in Accounting at University College Cork, where he has been a recipient of the President's Excellence in Teaching award. He is extensively involved in the Student Education Programme of Chartered Accountants Ireland, and has taught on the Final Admitting Examination in Belfast, Cork, Dublin and Galway. Derry, who trained as a Chartered Accountant with Ernst & Young, is an active researcher and has published works in the areas of Finance and Financial Reporting. In 2004, Derry published his first novel, Mary didn't have a Mam. In 2008, his second novel, Great Eagle Wood, was published by Chartered Accountants Ireland.