COMMUNICATIONS IN THE PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIELD
Prepared by:
Ross Larson and Kimberly Breuer
Prepared for:
Dale Sullivan, English 320
Date Submitted:
April 24, 2006
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………iii
INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………..1
Purpose………………………………………………………………1
Problem……………………………………………………………...1
Scope………………………………………………………………...1
Literature Review……………………………………………………1
METHODS………………………………………………………………….3
Internet Research…….……………………………………………..3
Personal Interview………………………………………………….3
Library Research……………………………………………………3
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION……………………………………………4
Introduction to Accounting ………………………………………..4
Communications……….…………………………………………..4
Genres used in public accounting field…………………………….7
Rhetorical Analysis………………………………………………...7
Personal Interview of CPA…………………………………………9
Professionalism in Accounting Papers……………………………..10
CONCLUTION…………………………………………………………….11
REFERECNES……………………………………………………………..12
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ABSTRACT:
This report examines the field of public accounting and the professionalism a certified public accountant (CPA) must abide by every day. The purpose of this report is to examine the interactions a CPA has with his or her clients and the professional write-ups that are done in the public field of accounting for those clients. This report is divided up into four sections: introduction, research methods, results, and conclusions.
The introduction gives the overall intention of this report and what the reader can expect to learn from reading it. The intention of this report is to educate persons interested in entering the public accounting field and what is expected of them when they are dealing with clients and work write-ups that must be done for these clients.
Our research methods of this report included, examination of professional accounting write-ups found in the library and on the Internet, attending the Accounting Club tour of Minneapolis public accounting firms, a personal interview with CPA and NDSU accounting professor Thomas Dowdell, and research in the library.
Our research results showed how important it is to act in a professional matter when dealing with clients. Whether it is through written documents or communication over the phone, in person, or by e-mail correspondence.
In conclusion of our findings we have made a set of guidelines that any new public accountant or accounting student should follow when starting or looking for a new job in the public accounting field.
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INTRODUCTION:
PURPOSE:
This is a report of research conducted to explore communications in the public accounting field. We intend to answer the question of what communication skills are expected of accounting students when they enter into their first job as a public accountant. By answering these questions we will better understand what our career and future employer’s anticipate receiving once we graduate.
PROBLEM:
Working for a public firm CPA’s work with clients on a daily basis and must communicate effectively with these clients to get the job done properly. If a staff member has poor communication skills it reflects inadequately on the firm and will possibly cost the firm part of its clientele.
SCOPE:
This report focuses on both the written and oral communication skills in the public field. We will look at what is expected of a firm’s new hire and the effects on a public firm if a staff member has poor communication skills.
LITERATRUE REVIEW:
In the tax accounting field there are many different types of texts. My article “Intertextuality in Tax Accounting: Generic, Referential and Functional” it interprets these texts in terms of their social functions in a community. It is very hard for someone who has not had a lot of school on the different texts to try and understand what is going on. In this review I will give you descriptions and interpretations which should contribute to the better understand of how texts work in the specific discourse communities such as accounting.
Texts are a signature item of the accounting profession. To best understand one text, look at the other texts around it. In my article it says how “No text is single, as texts
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refer to one another, draw from one another, and create the purpose for one another.” In saying that they mean that where there is one text there should be more feeding of one another.
Texts are a return for the fee that the client pays- whether it is a tax return, a letter to the IRS, opinion letter, or a verbal text over the phone. In my article it states that, “As accountants repeatedly respond to recurring rhetorical situations,common discourse forms tend to recur. Each text draws on previous texts written in response to similar situations. Through such interactions of texts, genres evolve.” It talks about the thirteen different types of genres written by the big eight firms. Each genre includes a different situation which includes a different problem that the tax accountant often occurs. Together with oral genres and tax returns, these form the accountant’s different genre systems.
The most common type of genre is the unmarked quotation. Unmarked quotation meets the needs and the value of the accounting community. Most accountants use this method when the text they are quoting is to long or has too many technical words. If you are going to paraphrase the eight big firms agreed that if the client is not tax-knowledgeable then it is ok. But if the client is relying on your information then you need to put in the technical words and explain them to the client or attach supporting documents for the business.
Most members of the community share knowledge of the general tax publications; most members use a single set of genres; and all membersacknowledge the authority of these tax publications. Most work done for a client is written or documented on paper, then put in a computer. Then the accountant can look back on it when doing more work for that client. Tax accountants say that the longer they are in the business, the more they realize the importance of documenting everything. That is the main way that you can communicate and look back and reference what has been done in the past.
With the study of texts it has revealed how important they are for tax accountants. The text has a genre system that enables its work. The importance of the community to better understand how things work and to look back at accountants work is very important too them.
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METHODS:
When approaching this paper we took the list from Dale Sullivan’s site of good resources to put in your paper.
INTERNET RESEARCH
We started using a search engine to find articles about the accounting field. This method turned out to be the best method for us. We are very familiar with the search engines so we used Google and Ask Jeeves. After typing in the category we got more than enough results. We found an article on the Internet, which helped us with the communication in accounting. That article gave us good tips on how to speak to board members about the financial statements. It also told us to make sure that when communicating to them, make sure everybody understands the information being communicated. We also used it to better understand the accounting field that we are pursuing. We also used it to understand the problems and the new rules and practices in our field.
PERSONAL INTERVIEW
Next, we used the personal interview to gain some knowledge from an experienced professional. We decided to interview a professor at NDSU that used to be an accountant before becoming a professor. In the interview with Dr. Thomas Dowdell he gave us some great insight on how his company communicated information with others. He also told about some personal experience in the audit field where he worked and some policies they had there. They did not use email to communicate to clients because it was not very popular back then.
LIBRARY RESEARCH
Last, we used the library to gather up information. We used the search menu on the library website to find books about accounting in the library. Locating those books was somewhat of a challenge but after finding them they became a great tool for us. The books told us more information about accounting and good ways to communicate
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accounting more efficiently.
We used different research techniques when constructing this research paper about our field. By using the Internet, which was faster we gained a lot more information as compared to the library, which was slower but still provided good books for us to look at helped and work with. We have increased our knowledge about accounting and ways to communicate the information to everybody.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:
INTRODUCTION TO ACCOUNTING
Accounting is defined as the system of recording and summarizing business and financial transactions and analyzing, verifying, and reporting the results (Merriam). When a person first starts out in the public accounting field they start as a staff accountant. By definition a staff accountant is concerned particularly with junior level accounting personnel in the first three years of employment whose duties require active involvement in the communication processes. Personnel involved in purely clerical or managerial duties are exempted from consideration (Ingram p.63). Communication skills are critical for a new staff accountant to have and these include both oral and written processes such as report writing, presentation, research, memorandums, interviews, and small group interactions. When communicating one should have good organization, grammar, syntax, and rhetoric (Ingram p.2). If a new staff member does not present theses skills their write-ups will reflect poorly on the firm and may hinder the new staff member from moving up the ladder.
COMMUNICATIONS
As stated above communication skills are critical for a new staff accountant to have and these include both oral and written processes. However, as a staff the communication form is mainly going to be written. This will vary on the size of the firm you are working for. If a new public accountant works for a big four firm their work will be almost 100% written and will have no oral communication with the clients. On the other hand if you work for a firm such as Larson Allen, a smaller public firm, you might be meeting with CFO’s of companies on a weekly basis. In most firms a public accountant will move one
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step up the ladder every busy season, which is January though April. The normal order is staff one, staff two, staff three, senior one, senior two, and then if the performance has been good enough the accountant will move up to manager. After several years as a manager with good performance and if the time is right you may be asked to become a partner in the firm. As an accountant is moving up the ladder their oral communication skills become more important to them. By the time an accountant makes partner they
almost do no accounting work at all. It has even been explained to us that a partner is pretty much a sales person.
Because communications are so important in the accounting profession one of the best things an accounting student can do is to improve their communication skills while they are still in school. On, average, schools with communication courses offer 3.5 hours credit to undergraduate students and 2.7 hours credit to graduate students (Ingram p.45). Below is a chart showing course offerings in communications skills above general education requirements.
COURSE OFFERINGS IN COMMUNICATIONS SKILLSABOVE GENERAL EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS
Characteristics of courses / Undergraduate programs (n = 11) / Graduate Programs (n = 8)
Course are Recommended to Majors / 25.2%* / 12.50%
Courses are Required of Majors / 54.10% / 21.30%
Courses are Taught by Accounting Faculty / 4.50% / 5.00%
Courses are Taught by Business Faculty / 38.80% / 16.30%
Courses are Taught by Non-business Faculty / 36.00% / 12.50%
Average Credit offered per Program / 3.5 hrs. / 2.7 hrs.
*The percentage for each item is based on the ratio of the number of programs responding positively to that item to the total number of programs.
(Ingram p.44)
When working as a CPA you will deal with the clients on the phone, by e-mail, and in person. It is important to know how to properly format an email and conduct your self on
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the phone and in person. The proper format for an email is:
Date: Month, Date, Year
To: Receiver
From: Writer
Subject Heading: Be sure to make your subject heading clear and descriptive.
Body: Keep it short and sweet and get to the point. If you don’t state the purpose in the first few sentences it will be lost to the reader. Don’t be a joker, avoid using uppers case because it implies shouting, don’t get personal, and avoid profanity and angry language. Make sure you answer all questions and don’t use abbreviations because everyone might not understand them. Lastly, scan your email for viruses. There is no quicker way to loose a client than to crash their computer system (Guerrilla).
When replying to an email, do it in a timely manner. Large companies will often take about three days to respond to e-mails. If you reply in a timely manner it will impress the client; the first response will usually get the sale. Use the reply button so that the subject line is the same as the original message. Quote the previous e-mail but make sure you reply above the quoted text from the previous e-mail. If you are angry wait to respond until you calm down. Follow all the guidelines listed above for writing emails and be professional in your writings (Guerrilla).
When communicating over the phone professionalism must be maintained. Answer the phone in a timely manner, but discontinue any previous activities before answering like chewing gum, conversations, eating, or typing. Always speak clearly and use a pleasant tone of voice. Remember that you are representing a company, so you need to make a good impression to the client. Always use the hold button when leaving the line, so the client does not hear any conversations being had nearby. Finally, if transferring your client make sure the client is aware of what is going to happen and who they will be talking to next (California State).
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When dealing with clients in person it is extremely important that you do it in a professional manner at all times. If you have a set time to meet do not be late and dress accordingly to the situation. Never use profanity or degrading language even if your client uses it. Always refer to your client by their name and shake their hand. Meet your clients in an appropriate meeting place, such as a sit down restaurant or a boardroom in
your firm. Talk about what you can offer the client, be accurate in what you are telling them, and always be polite.
GENRES USED IN PUBLIC ACCOUNTING
There are basically two sections in the public accounting field, tax and audit. Both tax and audit have genres that are used on a daily basis. When auditors preformed their audits they use work papers throughout their audit. Also some clients will have the auditors draw up their financial statements and annual report, such as balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flows. All the financial statements are done at the end of the client’s fiscal year, and clients usually have a CPA firm draw them up because of the inside knowing of the company. On the tax side, there are several different forms that the CPA could use on a daily basis, all depend on whether the CPA is doing taxes of a single person, family, business, or corporation. Some of the forms used are; Form 1040, 1040 EZ, Form 1040-A, 1040-V, Schedule A & B, Schedule C, Schedule C EZ, Schedule D, and Schedule D-1. A CPA must know all the inner working of these forms to get the clients the most deductions the client deserves. New staff accountants have told me that no day is the same because they work with so many different forms and are always looking for new deductions for their clients.
RHETORICAL ANALYSIS Rhetorical Analysis
We have decided to do a rhetorical analysis on Target Corporation’s annual report for 2005. This is a comprehensive financial finding for Target’s 2005 fiscal year; it includes a letter to stockholders, financial statements of the company, future plans for the company, an executive summary, and lastly a report of independent registered public accounting firm. The purpose of the annual report is to inform stockholders of the
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financial position of the company and the plans to improve the financial position in the future. This first part of the annual report is the letter to the stockholders, which we believe to be written in logos. The initial part of the letter states, “Target produced another year of outstanding results in 2005. By remaining focused on consistent execution of our strategy, we delighted our guests, enhanced our brand, and achieved record financial performance.”(TARGET p.2) It goes on to talk about how well Target did
last year, stuck to their plans, and improved the Target brand.
The other part of the annual report that is written in logos is future plans for the company. In it they talk about growth of the company, continuing to improve the brand, leadership in communities, and much more. Target states that when you shop at Target you get more for less. This is a marketing tactic that a lot of companies use and is very affective. Target maybe is using this strategy to compare them to Wal-mart. When most Target customers and shareholders think of Wal-mart they think of less for less. Pay less but get less. Target Company wrote both the logos parts themselves. I believe that the writer achieved in convincing the stockholders that their money is wisely invested and will continue to be invested well with Target Corporation.