Practitioner Journal Paper 1

Practitioner Journal Paper 1

Paper instructions

The University of Scranton

ACC 465/ACC 538 Accounting Communications

Guffey & Loewy Textbook Assignment 1 (Due 4/16/21)

Chapters 2-3

Spring 2021

Instructor: Dr. James Boyle

Part 1: Workplace Communication Channels: Advantages of Face-to-Face Communication

Chapter 2 indicates that face-to-face communication is best for persuasive, bad news, and personal messages. Place yourself in each of the two situations below as a future financial professional. Prepare two or three short paragraphs for each situation in completing the instructions.

Situation 1: You are a staff auditor assigned to audit the Account Receivable account. The audit plan budgeted two weeks of your time to complete the Accounts Receivable audit procedures (e.g., sending confirmation letters to customers, testing the A/R reconciliation with the subsidiary, and assessing the adequacy of the allowance for uncollectible accounts).

After the first week, you realize that it will take more time to complete the audit of Accounts Receivable for two reasons. First, the client was not ready with the information as planned. Second, you made a mistake by sending the first confirmation letters to the wrong addresses and now you must resend them to the correct addresses.        

Instructions: First, discuss specific advantages of face-to-face conversation with your audit supervisor rather than a letter or an email message. Second, describe your plan and goal(s) from your conversation with your audit supervisor.

Situation 2: You are the Controller of Enterprise Corporation. Bob Teller, a staff accountant with 3 years of dedicated service with Enterprise, has applied for the Assistant Controller position. Although you believe Bob is a good accountant, you do not think that he has enough knowledge and experience for the role of Assistant Controller. It would help if you communicated this news to Bob.

Instructions: First, discuss the specific advantages of a face-to-face conversation with Bob Teller rather than a letter or an email message. Second, describe your plan and goal(s) from your conversation with Bob Teller.

Part 2: Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 Business Writing Exercises

Chapter 2: Planning Business Messages

The textbook states that business messages are purposeful, economical, and audience oriented. They are also clear, concise, precise, and focused. We should try to get to the point and avoid wordy expressions.

Instructions: Practice writing effective business messages by completing the below exercises.

Chapter 2, Slide 11: Cultivating the “you” view.

• Provide below another example of a sentence using the “I, We” view.

• Revise the first sentence using the “You” view.

Chapter 2, Slide 12: Emphasizing Receiver Focus.

• Provide below another example of a sentence with a sender focus.

• Revise the first sentence to use a receiver focus.

Chapter 2, Slide 13: Being Conversational.

• Provide below another example of a sentence that is not professional (e.g., contains slang language, such as “our profits tanked” or “we got burned”).

• Revise the first sentence to make it more professional (replace the slang with more precise language).

• Provide below another example of a sentence that is not conversational (e.g., uses overly formal language, such as “pursuant to my previous request…”)

• Revise the first sentence to make it more conversational (such as “As I requested…”), yet still professional (i.e., with good grammar).

Chapter 2, Slide 16: Improving Tone by Being Courteous and Sensitive.

• Provide below another example of an uncourteous sentence.

• Revise the first sentence to make it courteous

• Provide below another example of a sentence with biased language.

• Revise the first sentence to make it bias-free.

Chapter 2, Slide 17: Developing Clarity

• Provide below another example of a sentence with unnecessarily complicated and/or unfamiliar words.

• Revise the first sentence to use plain language and familiar words.

• Provide below another example of a sentence with vague language.

• Revise the first sentence to use precise, vigorous words.

Chapter 3: Organizing and Drafting Business Messages

Chapter 3, Slide 5: Avoid Fragments

• Provide below another example of a fragment.

• Revise the above fragment into a complete sentence.

Chapter 3, Slide 6: Avoid Run-on “Sentences”

• Provide below another example of a run-on “sentence.”

• Revise the above run-on “sentence” into a complete sentence.

Chapter 3, Slide 7: Avoid Comma Splices

• Provide below another example of a comma splice.

• Revise the above comma splice to correct it.

Chapter 3: Use Active Voice for Directness, Vigor, and Clarity

• Provide another example of a sentence in the passive voice (less clear).

• Revise the above passive voice sentence so that it is in the active voice (more clear – identify the doer of the action).

Note: Most business writing should be in the active voice. The passive voice may be used for tact, such as when communicating bad news or intentionally not naming the doer of the action.

Solutions