diff --git a/liskov/src/icon4py/liskov/parsing/deserialise.py b/liskov/src/icon4py/liskov/parsing/deserialise.py
index 57f20a666f..fa88ae048c 100644
--- a/liskov/src/icon4py/liskov/parsing/deserialise.py
+++ b/liskov/src/icon4py/liskov/parsing/deserialise.py
@@ -265,7 +265,7 @@ def __call__(self, parsed: ts.ParsedDict) -> list[StartStencilData]:
         for i, directive in enumerate(directives):
             named_args = parsed["content"]["StartStencil"][i]
             acc_present = string_to_bool(
-                pop_item_from_dict(named_args, "accpresent", "false")
+                pop_item_from_dict(named_args, "accpresent", "true")
             )
             mergecopy = string_to_bool(
                 pop_item_from_dict(named_args, "mergecopy", "false")