Lying is rather common, as Pamela Meyer, author of Liespotting: Proven Techniques to Detect Deception, highlights in her 2011 Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) Talk “How to Spot a Liar.” Acknowledging that lying or deception is commonplace, the ability to tell when someone may not be telling the truth is an important skill—especially for those with careers in auditing and forensic accounting. For external audits, client inquiries are a key procedure to gain an understanding of internal controls, assess risk, and gather supportive evidence (Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) 2015 AS 1001; 2022a AS 1015; 2022b AS2201; 2022c AS 2401). What if the person answering these inquiries is not being honest? For law enforcement professionals (e.g., IRS and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)), the ability to interact on cases and understand when honesty might be in question is also crucial. These same perspectives apply to forensic accountants and...
Two Truths and a Lie: Introduction to Deception Detection
We are grateful for the opportunity to have presented this case and received feedback from participants at the 2021 Financial Accounting and Reporting Section (FARS) Midyear Meeting. We also thank the instructors who have piloted or adopted the activity. Finally, we appreciate the feedback and suggestions from the editors and anonymous reviewers.
All remaining errors are our own.
Julia Y. Davidyan, Nova Southeastern University, H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship, Department of Accounting and Taxation, Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA; Brian W. Huels and Jodi L. Gissel, University of Wisconsin–Whitewater, College of Business and Economics, Department of Accounting, Whitewater, WI, USA.
Please do not make the Teaching Notes available to students or post them on websites.
Supplemental material is available, as linked in the text.
Editor's note: Accepted by Paul J. Coram, under the Senior Editorship of Elizabeth Dreike Almer.
Julia Y. Davidyan, Brian W. Huels, Jodi L. Gissel; Two Truths and a Lie: Introduction to Deception Detection. Issues in Accounting Education Teaching Notes 1 May 2023; 38 (2): TN56–TN64. https://doi.org/10.5555/ISSUES-2021-054tn
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