Accounting As Detective Work: Fei Du On Data And Decisions

What if accounting isn’t about numbers—but about uncovering the story behind them?In this episode of Poets&Quants’ Faculty Spotlight, Gies College of Business professor Fei Du joins John A. Byrne to share how intellectual curiosity, and a desire for freedom, shaped her path into academia. What began as a practical career choice in China evolved into a passion for decoding financial statements as “clues” to how organizations think and act.Du explains how accounting, when done right, is less about calculation and more about interpretation. Through real-world examples, from COVID-era market reactions to corporate promotion systems, she shows how financial data reveals deeper truths about strategy, incentives, and human behavior.