Porter and
Crumbley (2012) highlight the importance of interview skills when conducting a
fraud investigation. Due to the importance of interviewing there are several
interviewing models which forensic accountants may use. The two type of
approaches used include an information-seeking interview or an admission-seeking
interview (Golden, Skalak, Clayton and Pill, 2011). The leading models
suggested by Porter and Crumbley (2012) include the REID model used in North
America and the PEACE model used in Britain.
The REID
model follows a non-accusatory interview during which the interviewer looks for
verbal and non-verbal cues to sense if the suspect is guilty. Once the
interviewer has established that the suspect is guilty, an accusatory interview
commences to entice the interviewee to admission (Porter and Crumbley, 2012).
Experts believe that the REID model may lack morality as people may be
wrongfully convicted as the deception techniques may lead to false confessions
and unreliable evidence (Shawyer and Walsh, 2007).
The PEACE
model is an acronym for Planning and preparation, Engage and Explain, Account,
Closure, Evaluation. The model allows the suspect to give a complete account of
their story and challenge the discrepancies of their account (Porter and
Crumbley, 2012). The interviewer using the PEACE model would adopt a cynical attitude
when interviewing as a tool to get a confession. The approach is found to be
more effective as it is considered the ethical approach and allows greater
chance of confession. Additionally the PEACE model would eliminate the
vulnerability of the REID model (Shawyer and Walsh, 2007). Furthermore the
PEACE model requires a fair, open-minded and non-judgemental atmosphere to
ensure that the interviewee is comfortable with the interviewer.
Overall
the best method depends on the goal of the interview. In most cases the goal
may be to generate an accurate and complete account of the event from the
suspect / witness / victim. As a result the PEACE model is more effective at
reaching the goal of the interview (Shawyer and Walsh, 2007).
Additionally
the Lecture 12 – Interviewing and Reporting Fraud, highlighted several steps in
conducting effective interviews. These include:
·
Preparation is half the battle
·
Establish rapport to make the interviewee
comfortable
·
Know when to cut off the witness
·
Beware of the federal prosecutor fallacy
·
Use documentary evidence to verify
·
Interview one person at a time
·
Conduct interviews off-site whenever possible
·
Be ready to be creative
·
Do not go it alone, always have another person
observe
Lastly
effective interviews rely on the observation of verbal and non-verbal cues to
determine guilt. Below is a video which touches the on the basic ways to detect
lies in people.
Additionally
KordaMentha (n.d.) have summarised some of the verbal and non-verbal cues to
look out for while interviewing. Verbal cues include interviewees not directly
telling lies, instead they will:
·
Hedge
·
Omit crucial facts
·
Feign forgetfulness
·
Pretend ignorance
·
Delay in answering questions
·
Repeating the question
·
Stumbling over words
·
Higher vocal pitch
Non-verbal
cues which the interviewee may experience when hiding guilt include:
·
Eye behaviours
·
Micro-expressions
·
Neurolinguistic behaviours
·
Mouth
·
Blood flow
Further
Reading:
KordaMentha.
(n.d.). Advanced interview techniques. Retrieved from: http://www.kordamentha.com/docs/for-publications/1105-AdvancedInterviewTechniques.pdf?Status=Master
Porter,
S., & Crumbley, L. (2012). Teaching interviewing techniques to forensic
accountants is critical. Journal of
Forensic & Investigative Accounting, 4(1), 122-146. Retrieved from: http://www.bus.lsu.edu/accounting/faculty/lcrumbley/jfia/Articles/FullText/2012_v4n1a5.pdf
Shawyer,
A., & Walsh, D. (2007). Fraud and peace: investigative interviewing and
fraud investigation. Crime Prevention and
Community Safety, 9(2), 102-117. doi: 10.1057/palgrave.cpcs.8150035.
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