Angela J. Maniak
The leading expert in helping auditors and accountants write clear and convincing audit reports.
How to Get Attention, Acceptance, and Action
What You Gain from the Workshop
This popular and highly interactive workshop has helped thousands of auditors:
- Write high-impact audit reports that display the value
of their audit work.
- Write it right the first time and avoid costly edits.
Newly updated and expanded, this hands-on seminar enables you and your audit team to:
- Achieve the highest quality, each and every time you write.
- Target your readers' interests.
- Capture and hold readers' attention.
- Get your reports to get action: Write persuasively.
- Say it the right way: Keep your reports constructive.
- Get started quickly: Write it right the first time.
- Know when to stop: Write concisely.
- Format reports to make them appealing and inviting.
- Do effective self- and peer-reviews.
- Put new skills in practice on the job immediately.
Who Should Participate
- Anyone who wants to write audit reports better and faster
What You Can Expect
This is a two- to three-day workshop in which you evaluate audit report samples, complete editing and writing exercises, and achieve immediate and visible improvements in your own writing skills. All case studies and exercises are audit-specific and based on actual reports, making this program more relevant and results-oriented than any business-writing seminar. This workshop offers you proven tools and techniques based on Angela Maniak's 20 years of training and consulting work with internal audit departments.
The in-house workshop offers:
- Tailored course objectives, agenda, and exercises to guarantee the program's relevance and effectiveness.
- Initial needs-assessment to target particular outcomes you will achieve.
- Feedback on your group's reports and writing samples.
Available Workshop Modules
Achieve High Quality: The First Time, Every Time
- Identify 25 quality measures for high-impact audit reports
- Use these measures to achieve consistent high quality in your reports
- Assess your performance against the measures
Start Every Project with an Objective: Focus on Your Deliverable
- Make your writing objective-driven and value-added
- Put the objective in writing when you begin
- State the objective in concrete and measurable terms
- Keep it brief
Who's Your Reader: How to Make Your Writing Appropriate
- Target the primary purpose and audience for every document you write
- Use the 5-C Formula for successful writing
- Get the appropriate value from everything you write
Capture and Hold the Readers' Attention: How to Get to the Point
- Start each section with the key point
- Keep it concrete
- Convey significance
- Write in simple business terms
Get Your Reports to Get Action: How to Write Persuasively
- Write to get results
- Offer factual evidence
- Show consequences and describe or quantify the impact
- Avoid overstating or understating the significance
- Focus on the cause
- Document action plans that establish accountability
Does It Matter How You Say It? How to Keep It Constructive
- Recognize the impact of tone on the effectiveness of your writing
- Modify tone to achieve the desired effect
- Describe four factors affecting tone and two things that create tone
- Choose the right words
- Write safe, positive statements
Getting Started: How to Write It Right the First Time
- Get started quickly and write a good first draft
- Do 3-step composing
- Get over writer's block
- Follow the writing cycle for greater efficiency
Knowing When to Stop: How to Write Succinctly
- Select an effective writing style
- Use action verbs
- Know when to use passive or active voice
- Use the appropriate verb tense
- Recognize the seven symptoms of wordiness
- Implement solutions for succinct writing
- Write concisely--Make every word count
Appeal to Your Readers' Taste: How to Make Reports Inviting
- Create an appealing layout
- Format for readability
- Use charts and graphs for impact
- Create at-a-glance presentations
If You Don't Get It Just Right: How to Do Self- and Peer-Review
- Know what to look for as you edit your own work
- Offer constructive commentary to other writers
- Ensure high quality in the most efficient manner possible
Action Planning: Putting It All in Practice
- Assess your own writing objectively
- Apply new writing skills on the job
- Track your improvement in writing quality and efficiency
- Use additional resources for continued development
The following modules are effective, yet quick add-ons that many clients request: Put It in Writing: How to Write Short and Simple Memos & E-mails
- Three measures of success for memos
- How to write FYI Memos that get read
- How to write action-request memos that get action
- Six simple steps to keep your readers reading
Check Your Correctness: Essential Tips for Grammar and Punctuation
- Four punctuation marks you need to master
- Three keys to correct sentences
- The secret to writing out numbers
- The right way to use Grammar Check and other writing tools
Describe It: How to Write Instructions and Procedural Narratives That Get Used
- Know what your reader needs to know
- Structure for very easy reading
- Use three style tips to guarantee readability
- Make it easy to find topics
- Make it easy to update your document
- Follow 15 tips for useful narratives
Get the book that goes along with this workshop
Writing High Impact
Reports
For further information:
Angela J. Maniak
191 Prescott Hill Road
Northport, Maine 04849
207-338-0108
angela@amaniak.com
copyright 2003-2007 Angela
J. Maniak
Webhosting by maineweb.com