Master clear, concise business writing. Craft impactful messages that inform, persuade, and build your professional credibility.
Every person has a different style and method they use for their writings and communications. When we enter a corporate environment, we strive to develop leading practices to ensure information is relayed in a manner that will be accepted by the intended recipient.
Business writing can take on many forms and is often influenced by many factors, including:
Organizations are comprised of many individuals who come from varying backgrounds and experiences. Developing certain standardizations for the writing process is important.
Business writing is typically broken into four categories:
Informational writing – Informational writing provides the reader with an analysis of a problem or information needed to correct or adjust a process. This includes: internal and external reports, financial statements and related disclosures and footnotes, meeting summaries, informal memos, and interviews.
Instructional writing – Instructional writing provides the reader with the information needed to complete a task. This includes: procedure manuals, formal memos, and technical documents that outline specifications.
Persuasive writing – Persuasive writing convinces the reader to take a specific action and compellingly conveys information. This includes: proposals and sales pitches.
Transactional writing – Transactional writing is used in everyday interactions. This includes: email and informal notes.
This session will explore key business writing concepts.
Field of Study: Communications & Marketing
Lynn Fountain has over 45 years of experience spanning public accounting, corporate accounting and consulting. 24 years of her experience has been working in the areas of internal and external auditing. She is a subject matter expert in multiple fields including internal audit, ethics, fraud evaluations, Sarbanes-Oxley, enterprise risk management, governance, financial management and compliance. Ms. Fountain has held two Chief Audit Executive positions for international companies. In 2011, as the Chief Audit Executive for an international construction/ engineering firm, she was involved in the active investigation of a joint venture fraud. The investigation included work with the FBI and ultimately led to indictment of the perpetrators and recovery of $13M. Ms. Fountain is currently engaged in her own training and consulting business and is a regular trainer for the AICPA. Ms. Fountain is the author of three separate technical books. “Raise the Red Flag – The Internal Auditors Guide to Fraud Evaluations” was published by the Institute of Internal Auditors Research Foundation. -“Leading The Internal Audit Function” and -“Ethics and The Internal Auditor Political Dilemma” were published by Taylor & Francis In addition Ms. Fountain was a contributing author to the certification program exam for the National Association of Accountants. She also has certificate programs on various on-line platforms. Ms. Fountain has performed as an adjunct instructor for the School of Business for Grantham University and developed the first internal audit curriculum for the School of Business at the University of Kansas. Ms. Fountain obtained her BSBA from Pittsburg State University and her MBA from Washburn University in Kansas. She has her CGMA, CRMA credentials and CPA certificate (non-active).
