Writing of a Report;

              VOL. I NEW YORK, OCTOBER 15, 1918 No. 8
The Writing
A REPORT is the formal medium where-by
the firm conveys to the client the re­sult
of the engagement. It is the expres­sion
of the firm's opinion in the premises.
It is the evidence whereby the firm is judged.
The writing of a report is a function
which is delegated to qualified members of
the staff. The greater their ability to ac­cept
the responsibility and function under
their respective commissions the more val­uable
they become as members of the organ­ization.
To write a good report should be the aim
and ambition of every member of the staff.
It is an accomplishment of which any one
may well be proud. It stamps a man with
the mark of ability.
An enterprising junior recently, while
awaiting assignment in the absence of the
manager, took up the finished working
papers on an engagement and tried his hand
at writing the report. The showing was
a most creditable one.
Initiative of this kind should be en­couraged.
Many a man might be able to
write a good report were he to have an
opportunity to try. The ancient tribal
method of teaching through "trial and
error" still has its value. Without the
"trial" the "error" will not be disclosed.
Once disclosed, practice combined with con­structive
criticism may soon overcome the
faults.
A report consists, roughly speaking, of
three parts: the presentation, the state­ments,
and the comments. The presentation
of a Report
serves formally to transmit the report and
serves as an index to the contents. It is
more or less stereotyped in form and may
be easily memorized, if need be. The state­ments
vary in form but individually follow
general lines, to which, in turn, variation
applies when circumstances dictate. To be­come
familiar with the forms is not a dif­ficult
matter. The comments constitute the
chief stumbling block of most accountants.
They serve to present matters of general
information; to bring sharply to the at­tention
a particular fact which might be
passed over in reading the statements; to
elucidate certain facts or figures in the
statements; to offer an opportunity for
qualification; and, in appropriate instances,
to provide for criticism, suggestion, or rec­ommendation.
No report should be started without first
considering deliberately and thoroughly its
primary purpose. One client may want
simply an independent and unbiased state­ment
of his financial condition for his own
satisfaction. Another client may want the
report for purposes of litigation; another,
for the sale of a business. It may be used
in making representations to the Treasury
Department in matters relating to taxes.
Every report should be so complete as to
stand the strain of any of these tests.
No detail of the field work should ever be
undertaken without having in mind the ef­fect
upon the report. The man who does
the work should put himself in the place of
the man who is to write the report.
HASKINS & SELLS
CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS
NEW YORK
CHICAGO
DETROIT
ST. LOUIS
BOSTON
CLEVELAND
BALTIMORE
PITTSBURGH BULLETIN SAN FRANCISCO
LOS ANGELES
SEATTLE
DENVER
ATLANTA
WATERTOWN
LONDON