Sharpening Your Report Writing Skills

Our March 9 meeting will focus on the writing techniques that enable participants to write clear, concise and persuasive audit comments. After learning about the differences between academic writing and audit writing, participants learn five techniques that will help them:

• Get to the point immediately

• Highlight the business risk or impact

• Create a logical flow of information

• Use bullet points to present certain types of information

• Avoid “red flag words”

During the workshop, participants see how applying good writing techniques can transform wordy or confusing writing into easy-to-read material that delivers a clear message.

Agenda:

7:30am ‐ 8:15am Registration/ Networking/Breakfast

8:15am ‐ 8:30am Opening Remarks

Morning Session – 3.5 hours, including 15-minute break

• Two myths about good audit report writing

• The elements of the audit finding

• Drafting a statement of concern

• Transitioning to the audit risk

• Making recommendations SMART

• Creating clear sentences – Part I

Afternoon Session – 3.5 hours, including 15-minute break

• Creating clear sentences – Part II

• Recognizing the needs of the executive reader

• Understanding the flow of information in the full report

• Practicing editing skills

• Grammar refresher

About Your Instructor:

Joanne Feierman, president of Seminars in Communication, is a recognized expert in business writing. Her workshops on audit report writing have been presented at conferences and meetings of the IIA, AGA and ISACA. Her audit and regulatory writing clients include SEI, Oppenheimer Funds, SunTrust, Heineken, Principal Financial, Fidelity and Dreyfus. She has taught audit report writing for the National Guard Bureau, US Army Reserves and the Office of the New York State Comptroller. She recently conducted a webinar on the “Seven Deadly Sins of Report Writing” for the Institute of Internal Auditors.

Ms Feierman presented “Better Reports: How an Audit Group Made Every Word Count” at the IIA’s Financial Services Conference. She is the author of Action Grammar: Fast, No Hassle Answers on Everyday Usage and Punctuation (Simon & Schuster). Her article, “Write It Right the First Time,” was published in the journal of the Institute of Internal Auditors and is featured on its website.

Registration Fees

Members (including ISACA, ASWA) $150.00 USD Non-Members $175.00 USD Students & Faculty $50.00 USD

Group Registration Fees

4_Members (4x$150) $600.00 USD