The need for writing skill in accounting firms
The article titled The need for writing skill in accounting firms by M. Northey is an assessment of the need for proficiency in writing in large accounting enterprises which base their operations in an ever challenging environment coupled with demands for proper client service and business growth. The author elaborates on the different kinds of writing that are used by accountants on a regular basis and provides an examination of how firms can push for good writing skills through provision of training sessions and regular evaluation checks.
The main guiding point behind Northey’s article is the obvious revelation that most accountants tend to lose credibility in the eyes of their customers owing to their poor writing skills or impoverished organization of thoughts. According to the author, most people acquire and perfect their writing skills through years of practice and it is only a small minority that can boast of having been born with the talent.
Northey advises that accountants should point out areas in which they are bound to make mistakes when writing, and then train themselves to stay clear of such errors. Northey examines the most common types of writing mistakes and offers suggestion on writing exercises that can be taken by accountants in order to improve accountants’ writing skills. He suggests that accountants should commit themselves to perfecting their writing skills over the entire period of their careers.
In general, Northey comes to the conclusion that accountants can easily improve the ways in which they present information to clients and other consumers of financial data by consciously avoiding some common errors.
Squaring the Learning Circle: Cross-Classroom Collaborations and the Impact of Audience on Student Outcomes in Professional Writing
The article titled Squaring the Learning Circle: Cross-Classroom Collaborations and the Impact of Audience on Student Outcomes in Professional Writing is a basic guide on how students can improve their writing skills such that they are in a position to use them meaningfully once they are done with school.
The author, Mark Ward, appreciates the fact that since time immemorial, student compositions have generally regarded as materials for presentation to teachers and have no use to the students once the tutors are done with the assessment. From the article, the author reveals that lecturers and instructors dealing with professional communication genres have over time come to notice that students are generally more motivated to write when their target audience comprises their peers or seniors outside the college environment.
Another observation made by Ward is that once students graduate from college and are faced with the task of having to deal with projects requiring them to put their writing skills into practice, it becomes a daunting task. This is because there is no gradual transition between classroom writing and writing for an external audience. In order to address this issue of classroom to professional writing, Ward suggests that students from different classrooms/colleges exchange their works through the various available technological channels. In this regard, the article is basically a guiding document on how tutors can effectively contribute to improving their students’ writing skills by presenting exercises aimed at getting the students to appreciate the difference between classmates and the external audience.
Ward analyses the impact of this intermediate audience in preparing students for writing for external audiences and how it can be applied to the teaching profession with the greatest positive results. Some empirical data collected in a small study helps provide some credible evidence for this strategy.