Speech Proposal

The company that I am giving my speech on is Sports Clips.  Sports Clips is a place to haircuts that has a sports theme.  I am choosing to do a speech about them because the way in which they use advertising is interesting to me.  They focus on a very specific audience, and I was interested what affect that may have on their business.  I think their advertisements play a big role in why they are successful.
I am choosing to analyze a few advertisements.  One is a print advertisement.  It shows two guys watching TV and smiling.  The caption says, "Guys watch sports. Guys get haircuts"  The other advertisement I am choosing to analyze is a commercial.  The basis of the commercial is that everything we do has some sort of competition so Sports Clips is the place to go for a haircut.  I also have two outside sources that tell me the successfulness of the company.  One article is from Forbes, and states that Sports Clips is the second best franchising opportunity.  The other one is from NASDAQ.  These are both very reliable sources that evaluate Sports Clips.
The two main things that I am going to analyze about these advertisements are audience and pathos.  Sports Clips has a very specific audience.  In terms of the print advertisement they address it to men specifically.  Also, in the commercial there are only guys getting a haircut.  I found this to be interesting because they are narrowing the potential market for their product.  The other thing that plays a big role in their advertisement is pathos.  The main emotions they try to instill in their audience is a sense of fun.  They attempt to show people having a good time getter their haircut, which they believe will get more people into their store.
The visual aid I will use for the speech is a PowerPoint.  On the PowerPoint I will display the advertisements I am using to point out to the audience what I am talking about. 

Print Analysis

The company that I am choosing to analyze is Sports Clips.  They are a haircutting business that focuses on having sports entertainments while getting your haircut.  The author of this advertisement is Sports Clips.  Sports Clips focuses on advertising to a very narrow audience.  Their audience is basically men who enjoy watching sports.  Because of this, their potential market is decreased.  They do not really seem to advertise to females, which makes sense, but also limits their audience.  The purpose behind this advertisement is to attract more customers to their business.  Their purpose is also to make more people aware that a place like this exists.  Most people do not enjoy getting haircuts, and this place can provide a better alternative for some people.  I think the main way they try and do this is pathos.  I think they use pathos a lot in their advertisements.  In their advertisement they have two guys sitting getting haircuts in front of televisions.  They appear to be having a good time.  The caption states that "guys watch sports, guys get haircuts"  The main goal from this was to establish the fact that this would not be a typical haircut, and that you might actually have a good time when doing this.  From their target audience this could induce emotions of jealousy, fun, intriguing, etc.  They play off of these emotions to attract their audience into going to their store because if they do, they will have a better time.  The only other aspect that is maybe touched on is ethos.  In the ad they have people cutting the hair.  That may be a concern for some people going to this place is that they would not be able to receive as good of a haircut.  By placing the hairdressers in the ad it might cause people to think differently.

Conferences

I found the conference very useful.  It helped me realize the improvements that I needed to make to my paper.  It also allowed me to know what my professor expected of my paper.  It also helped me narrow my focus on what I needed to improved, rather than being overwhelmed with revising my whole paper.  It gave me a specific starting point.
I think that the conference and the written comments were useful, and I would want that to stay the same way.  I took notes on what you said in the conference, but there were things that I did not write down that appeared on the comments on the paper.  This was useful very useful for me.  I think that the written comments were more useful than the conference because I did not have any specific questions on this paper.  I think a good way of doing it would be to post the written comments and then give us the option of making an appointment to meet with you to discuss the comments further if we needed it.
On thing that I would consider changing would be to have the conferences before the peer reviews.  The comments that I received changed the way I wrote a lot of my paper.  Thus, many of the comments the peer reviewers made didn't apply as much because I changed the paper so much.  I think that  if we had the conferences then revised the paper then had the peer conferences that would be more effective, from my point of view.

Informational Report

Cole Grossman

The Role of Writing in Accounting

University of Iowa

The Role of Writing in Accounting

            Accountants are normally thought of as number crunchers and the people who fill out your taxes.  Although many people rely on accountants to do these types of things, something that plays a much larger role in accounting than people realize is writing.  Writing is the foundation of much of the business world, and it plays a significant role in the field of accounting.  I interviewed Jen Tigges, who currently works as an Assistant Financial Controller at Principal Financial Group and is a Certified Public Accountant.  Jen stated that, “Fifty percent of my time is probably spent writing in some fashion” (J. Tigges, personal communication, September 2, 2015).  Half of the day spent writing seems like a lot of time devoted to one thing, but accountants do various types of writing in their day to day work.  Accountants use writing, in both academic and non-academic settings to explain and evaluate certain accounting principles that may not be known by other people in the field of accounting or in a different area of business.

Non-Academic Writing

            Non-academic writing plays a very significant role in the field of accounting.  These non-academic writing cover a wide range of audiences.  The audiences typically written to by accountants are others in the business arena who are not accountants, as well as writing to accountants.  Along with the various types of audiences accountants tailor to, they must also be comfortable writing in various forms, such as memos or emails.    

When writing to their coworkers who are in other fields of business accountants must take complex principles and simplify them so their coworkers are able to understand what they are doing.  Tigges agreed with this statement and expanded upon it by saying, “A lot of my writing needs to be read and understood by individuals who speak English as a secondary language” (J. Tigges, personal communication, September 2, 2015).  With today’s global market, communication can be one of the most difficult aspects of business.  Writing in such a way that enables international business people to comprehend what was written is a significant advantage in all business fields, especially accounting.  While accountants have to write to people in other business areas, they must also communicate with others who are accountants.

 Accountants also write to other accountants in a non-academic setting.  The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) is a website specifically used by accountants.  The FASB outlines and explains different accounting principles and rules that accountants are required to use in today’s business world.  The FASB states, “Each final Accounting Standards Update has an effective date when companies and nonpublic not for profit organizations are required to implement it” (“FASB Standards,” 2015).  The FASB ensures that everything in the accounting world stays regulated based on the standards that it comes out with.  Accountants also collaborate with each other in writing.  Many of the forms that accountants fill out have to be reviewed by a few people so they can determine the accuracy of these documents.  In addition, these forms may have to be presented to an auditor, who determines the validity of these documents.  Accountants communicate with a variety of audiences, which makes it important to use the correct type of communication with these people. 

Writing to these different types of audiences comes in different forms.  Tigges declared that, “Memos and emails are probably the most common form of writing that I use on a daily basis” (J. Tigges, personal communication, September 2, 2015).  Memos and emails are both example of non-academic writing.  Therefore, when Tigges stated that memos and emails are the most common form of writing that she does, it means that accountants generally are writing in a non-academic context.  One example of a memo is an accountant analyzing a certain change being made to the basic accounting principles.  In this memo Susan Eldridge, a CPA, stated the following regarding the proposed change, “I believe that the change from the use of the cumulative effect method to retrospective application for all changes in accounting principles will result in excess cost” (Eldridge, 2004).  This quote displays why she thought this specific change was unnecessary to be included with the basic accounting principles.  Although this is only one type of memo, the majority of memos that accountants would be writing would pertain to analyzing how a specific practice could help or hurt the company’s ability to make money.  Memos and emails are certainly an important part of the type of communication that accountants use, but they also communicate in other ways as well.

Another way in which accountants use non-academic writing is in the various forms that they are required to fill out through the government.  Tigges mentioned that the 10-Q and the 10-K are the two reports that she has to file to the SEC.  The SEC states this in regards to the 10-K, “The annual report on Form 10-K provides a comprehensive overview of the company's business and financial condition and includes audited financial statements” (“Form 10-K,” 2009).  This quote demonstrates the importance of this form.  Many accountants must work on this form together in order to make sure the form is done correctly.  Although this is only one example of a form an accountant might have to fill out there are various other forms that are important for accountants to understand.  Overall, non-academic writing is very important in the field of accounting, but there is also a lot of academic writing in this field.

Academic Writing

Non-academic writing is much more prevalent in the field of accounting.  However, there are many example of academic writing in this field.  In academic writing accountants are writing to others in their field.  What they write about differs, however.  Many academic writings focus on what a specific accounting principle might do, or the affect that an accounting method might have on the economy.

The audience in an academic setting is much more limited than the audience of writing in a non-academic setting.  Clearly, the main audience of these academic writings are other accountants, however the audience can be expanded a little more than that.  Anyone with involvement in business could be considered the audience for these articles.  Accounting relates to so many different fields and can therefore be use to critically examine different aspects in the business world.

Academic writing in the accounting field can be very important because of the implications it can have in the business world. One example is an article titled “Macroeconomics Consequences of Accounting: The Effect of Accounting Conservatism on Macroeconomic Indicators and the Money Supply.”  This article analyzes the way in which this specific accounting practice of having more verification for gains than losses and how this process as a whole affects the entire economic climate.  Michael Crawley, the author of this article, concludes that this simple practice can affect such things as social welfare.  This displays the importance that accounting can have on everyone associated with the business world.  Academic writings in accounting also have much narrower focuses.

Another primary use for academic writing in accounting is analyzing the different types of forms and practices that are used in the accounting world.  In a different article titled “Changes in Value Relevance of Accounting Information upon IFRS Adoption.”  In this article, the authors analyze the affect that implements international reporting standards has on the economic climate in a foreign country.  The importance of this article is that the adoption of these standards can be largely dependent on studies such as this one.  This is only one example of the analysis of certain accounting practices, but there are many other articles related to these ideas. 

Academic writing in accounting also analyzes other accountants and the way in which accountants can improve.  In an article titled “Has the Quality of an Accounting Education Declined?” Paul Madsen examines how accountants stack up compared to other majors and to business majors in general.  He found that across all majors, accountants are generally improving, but across business majors, accountants were declining in specific skills valuable to businesses.  This is important because it could change the way in which accounting is taught or the standards for which becoming an accountant is required.

Conclusion

The way in which writing in accounting is used is vast.  Writing in accounting can cover a wide range of audiences.  Also, accountants must be able to write in many different forms, such as memos, email, and various reports.  Writing in accounting can also influence many things in business and specifically in accounting.  Generally, accounting is not viewed as a writing intensive field, but there are many ways in which an accountant must be able to write effectively.

References

Chalmers, K., Clinch, G., & Godfrey, J. (2011). Changes in Value Relevance of Accounting Information upon IFRS Adoption: Evidence from Australia. Australian Journal of Management, 36(2), 151-173. 

Crawley, M. (2015). Macroeconomic Consequences of Accounting: The Effect of Accounting Conservatism on Macroeconomic Indicators and the Money Supply. The Accounting Review, 90(3), 987-1011.

Eldridge, S. (2004, April 12). Memorandum. Retrieved September 13, 2015. 

FASB, Financial Accounting Standards Board. (2015). Retrieved September 7, 2015.

Form 10-K. (2009, June 26). Retrieved September 13, 2015. 

Madsen, P. (2015). Has the Quality of Accounting Education Declined? The Accounting Review, 90(3), 1115-1147.

Tigges, J. (2015, September 2). Writing in Accounting [E-mail interview].

Interview Summary/Sources

The person that I interviewed for this paper was Jen Tigges.  I am writing my paper about accounting and she is a CPA.  She currently works at Principal Financial Group as an Assistant Financial Controller.  According to Jen writing plays a major role in the field of accounting.  She estimates that she spends around fifty percent of her day doing some form of writing.  The most common form of writing that she does is non academic and it pertains to writing emails and memos.  Also, accountants also have to write a variety of reports which she outlined for me.  The main reports that she fills out are the 10Q and the 10K, and these reports have to be filed with the SEC.  The main role that her writing serves is explaining complex accounting principles to people that do not have experience in the accounting field.  She also has to work with international business people and has to be able for them to understand her writing even though they speak English as a second language.  Although Jen does not write in academic contexts very often, writing still plays an important role in her job.  From this interview it seems to me that accountants spend a lot of their time writing for people who may not understand the technicalities associated with accounting. In other words, the audience most typically associated with accounting would  be other business people who do not have an accounting background.  Accountants also spend a lot of their time writing emails and memos to their coworkers.  Therefore, the media generally used in the accounting profession is electronic.  Another source of writing that accountants typically do is filing various reports and documenting specific information with the SEC and the IRS.  The genre typically associated with writing in accounting would be informational.  It is important for them to explain various accounting principles and relay specific numbers vital to the company.

http://web.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/bsi/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=eaef7287-b29f-4864-9219-acbe8df4ae5e%40sessionmgr111&vid=0&hid=105
http://search.proquest.com.proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/abiglobal/docview/893907805/7A8EAA77A020407APQ/1?accountid=14663http://web.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/bsi/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=c09bf3e8-fc5a-4ddf-ad17-7123daf88810%40sessionmgr110&vid=20&hid=105
Listed above are the three academic sources that I plan to use for my paper.  Based on these articles I think that the general purpose of writing in the accounting field is to analyze various issues in the accounting world.  In these articles the main issues that are analyzed are tax competition, the value of a new accounting practice that was put in place, and the efficiency of a specific auditing form that is used.  For all three of these sources the main audience is accountants.  The purpose behind these three reports would be to inform the accounting community of various types of issues and problems that they may run into and how to analyze them.  Another purpose would be to analyze the way taxes can affect different kinds of people.  They also analyze how specific accounting principles or forms can help or hinder the efficiency of accountants in the workplace.  The genre that these three sources employ would be informational.  Their goal is to inform the accounting community of the best practices that they should use.  The stance used in these sources is one that would be objective, and also informational.  The media that these three sources employ is a print source.  From these sources I can gather that writing in accounting is very important.  In academic fields writing in accounting evaluates certain practices that have the possibility of being used by all accountants and assesses whether or not that could work.    

Quote Analysis

In high school I wrote a research paper about World War Two.  This paper contained two quotations that I will analyze.  This first quote I used was one by Dwight Eisenhower.  For this quote I failed to introduce who Eisenhower was.  Although I explained who he was later in the paper, it would have been better to say who he was when I introduced the quote.  The explanation after this quote was lacking.  I included the explanation of when he said it and that the quote was important.  I didn't go into great detail about why it was important or the significance that this quote had. Overall, my introduction and explanation of the quote needed more work, but the quote certainly belonged in my paper and it related to the text.  The next quote I used in this paper was by Winston Churchill.  I felt like I introduced this quote pretty well.  Again, I should have done a better job at explaining who Churchill was.  The explanation was okay for this quote, but could have used some better analysis as to why the quote was important.

APA Practice

Lee, H. (1988) To Kill a Mockingbird. New York: Grand Central Publishing

Modigliani, F. (1963). Corporate Income Taxes and the Cost of Capital. The American Economic Review, 53(3) 433-443.

Sources

All of these sources are academic sources.  In some way these sources all describe how accountants make suggestions based on information that they gather.  The majority of the time, these recommendations have something to do with taxes.  The way that I will use these sources in my paper is by analyzing the way in which accountants used the information that they gathered and how accountants might use this information in their every day jobs.  I will also use these sources to explain the way in which accountants may write in academic settings.


http://search.proquest.com.proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/abiglobal/docview/217550618/BE02C9C15FE44B8BPQ/16?accountid=14663
http://web.a.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/bsi/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=1a62296a-068f-40d8-b227-f4b30c2e5fd7%40sessionmgr4002&vid=8&hid=4106
http://search.proquest.com.proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/abiglobal/docview/203278691/D997B9A0BC884061PQ/7?accountid=14663

Interview Questions

1. What is your current place of employment and current position that you hold?
2. What sort of educational background do you have?
3. What sort of writing do you usually doin your field?
4. How much time of your day is devoted to writing?
5. What is the most common form of writing that you use?
6. What is the most challenging part of writing in your field?
7. How important is it to be an effective writer in your field?
8. How has your writing improved or evolved throughout your career?
9. Do you ever have to write papers or reports in your career?  If so please describe these reports or papers?
10. Do you ever have to present your writings?
11. Has your writing ever been published in your field?
12. How does your writing vary in academic vs. non-academic context?
13. Do you collaborate with others when writing?
14. How often do you read other people's writing?
15. How often do you use published writing that pertains to your field?