Attention to Detail in Written Communications

The topics included in this session are:

• Typos: why do they happen and how can we avoid them?
• Which phrase is correct: “Johnny and I” or “Johnny and me”?
• Pronoun usage: a discussion on political correctness and noun-pronoun agreement
• Using technology in a mistake-free way: spell check, autocorrect, etc. E.g., When you intend to write “form” but you accidentally write “from”, will spell check catch it?
• Correct spelling in Canada, e.g., “practise”, “licence”, and “cheque”
• Commonly confused words, e.g., “lead” & “led”, “complement” & “compliment”
• Commas in direct address, e.g., “Thank you, Melanie.”
• Oxford commas: whether to use them
• Sentences with lists: obeying proper syntax
• Compound adjectives: when to use a hyphen
• And any similar topics suggested by the audience

The theme of this course is attention to detail.

By paying attention to detail in your writing, you will be able to compose emails and documentation that portray an image of expertise. In turn, you will increase the number of clients and co-workers who reply to you with a positive response.

During the course, we will create a checklist for carefully composing emails and documentation.

Course Outcomes:

When your readers detect attention to detail in your writing, they gain trust in your ability as an accountant or finance professional. However, when readers detect sloppiness, they doubt whether you have the competence to assist them.

To examine the topic of attention to detail, we will canvass costly errors in written communication. You will be exposed to vivid examples of these errors, which will ensure that you avoid them in your own communications.

Speaker: Ryan Standil