Communication Audit
Due Sept 15th in class.Instructions
For your first major assignment, investigate the kinds of documents accountants write. Then, informed by your research and your collected samples, write a memo that summarizes your investigation of this topic, your discoveries, your recommendations, and any conclusions you draw. You should attach copies of at least three writing "samples" from the field.
You may approach this task in a variety of ways, but following is a recommended procedure: Contact and arrange to visit an accounting organization. Obtain a variety of letters, reports, brochures, advertising materials, instruction or operation manuals, and other samples of professional communication. Evaluate the documents' formats, conveyance of professional image, and effectiveness based on their intended functions--instruction, description, or persuasion. Summarize your findings, recommendations and conclusions in the memo.
That is, research, observe, inquire, interview, and/or consult with working accountants about the kinds of writing their positions demand. Be sure to obtain, with the participants' permission, copies of their writing. (You should obscure identifying information.)
Additional Details
Your materials might include samples from a variety of internal and external correspondence such as e-mail, memoranda, letters, reports, brochures, advertising materials, and instruction or operation manuals.
Once you have gathered your materials, analyze the firm's use of language, style, design, layout, and professional writing strategies. For example, look at how a particular format organizes information and how the document conveys the firm's professional image. Consider the document's intended purpose and evaluate the materials' effectiveness in achieving this end. Do the materials effectively inform, instruct, or persuade? How well does the writing adhere to "Plain English" standards? Finally, drawing on our readings and class discussions, can you suggest any improvements?
(See Exercises 1-1 and 1-4 in your textbook for more suggestions of questions to consider.)
Incorporate your analyses and recommendations in a memo about 1 ½ - 3 pages in length, following the guidelines in Chapter 10 (May & May) for "A Memo as Part of Working Papers." Attach your collected documents to your memo.
Assessment
Your grade on this assignment derives from the effectiveness of your writing, the thoroughness of your audit, the aptness of your samples, the overall quality of your report, and the pertinence of your conclusions.