Sunday, August 30, 2015

On Demand: Writing Focused Audit Reports

My webinar, Writing Focused Audit Reports, is available for purchase at Audio Solutionz, an company providing online informative audio conference for the past 12 years. This 90-minute session takes you through the audit-writing process from content selection to workpapers to editing a focused, credible report.

This webinar will help you regardless of your experience in auditing. Senior auditors will immediately gain practical tips for the writing situation, which they might have overlooked or taken for granted. Junior auditors will gain a deep toolbox that will enable them to document an audit report from conception to completion.

Sunday, August 23, 2015

On Demand: Business Writing for Financial Professionals

My webinar, Business Writing for Financial Professionals, is now available in on-demand format through Audio Soultionz, an established online training firm. This 90-minute program covers writing in financial contexts from structure to style. You will find the relevant examples applicable to a broad range of business writing situations. Enrolling is easy and reasonably priced.

Sunday, August 16, 2015

On-Demand Audit Report Webinar Available

One of my most popular industry-specific webinars is Audit Report Writing, available through Bank Webinars. an outstanding organization with which I have had a relationship for the past five years. This webinar offers you 2.5 continuing education units at a reasonable rate without needing to leave your desk. It covers the following objectives:

  • Determine factors affecting the validity and reliability of an audit finding
  • Assess an audit report for the appropriate level of detail
  • Create a department-specific template to facilitate the writing process
  • Draft workpapers based on objective observations
  • Employ formatting devices to improve the visual appeal of an audit report
  • Craft fluent sentences to illuminate ideas
  • Develop a precise, clear, concise vocabulary for documenting audit reports



Sunday, August 09, 2015

Why We Get Words Wrong, Part 10: Sloppy, Lazy, Careless

Throughout this series, I've given nine reasons why we might mess up with commonly confused words. You can see I'm a tolerant guy when it comes to usage mistakes. 

But even I have my limits. The usage examples in the image are intolerable. Yet I must admit that I once texted a client, thanking her for stooping by. You know you've made your fair share of linguistic blunders too.

We're all human, yet none of us wants to be accused of being sloppy, lazy, or careless. The moral of the story: If you know the difference, then prove it. Happy writing.

Sunday, August 02, 2015

Why We Get Words Wrong, Part 9: Our First Language Teachers

My parents were immigrants whose first language was not English. They were my first English teachers. By the time I arrived in the first grade, I was nearly six with set grammar and usage standards. The only way to overcome the mistakes I had been taught was by conscious effort.

The sentence in the image is not an exaggeration; it was what I was taught. My parents literally translated from their language into English. Don't laugh. I have heard educated television broadcasters and other articulate people make the same errors. 

Perhaps you heard other expressions from your parents if English is not their first language. If your parents are articulate, be grateful; they likely were your first language teachers. We have to work hard to break bad language habits—that is, if we know we're making them.