Our words speak for us;

              .locution
1 • j
ATI PH f i l l
• la
Pi ] "pTlA^P L4»JL
•Aw
0^
At a tense crisis point in a novel
published a tew years ago, one ot the
leading tigures in a bitter proxy tight
asks a colleague:
'Now, what are we going to do with this
paragraph summing up the tacts of their
fiscal policy? As it stands, it sounds
like something put out by Haskins &
Sells. We're writing for the public
now, we've got to put it into English'.'
The author of the novel, the widely
known and respected John Brooks,
specializes in writing about business
subjects. He has assured H&S Reports
that he used our Firm's name merely as
a symbol for the profession of public
accounting. He did not mean to single
out our written statements as being less
clear, or more obscure, than those of
other CPA firms. So, in a way, we
should feel honored that Mr. Brooks
chose to mention H&S on page 171 of
The Man Who Broke Things.
And he spelled our name right.
^ Our words speak for us
mm J mm %
1 T v* /H A*yirtf Q VI/i T W i
JL W V X M ^
^X^J^ \\\£m± f\fm^Y^fH%v^i^kf^^r'k^s!y0\k
12
The point John Brooks was making in
this sideswipe is one with which many
leaders in the public accounting
profession thoroughly agree:
CPAs should be able to communicate
effectively in writing and too often
they do not write clearly and with grace.
editorial in the November 1969 issue
of the Journal of Accountancy discussed
this matter at length, under the heading:
The CPA and the Second 'FT It quoted
a recent survey of leaders in the
profession revealing that of fifty-three
subjects that the leaders thought the
beginning CPA should know, they
assigned undisputed first place to
written and oral English."The men who
conducted the survey the authors of
Horizons for a Profession, declared that,
To the CPA the ability to express himself is
more than the hallmark of an educated
man, it is a professional necessity'.'
The Journal editorial went on to
point out that in other professions,
medicine and law among them, many