Would anyone have any resources, sources for information on writing reports? I suppose this could be considered technical writing, but we are finding some of our compliance folks are a little challenged in this skill and are looking for something that might help them. I've seen something like this offered in audit courses and loan review courses. We are working on creating a standard report format that might help, but would appreciate any suggestions, ideas, etc.

For starters, your folks probably need basic courses in grammar and writing. To be informative and persuasive, writing must be clear and well organized.

There are online courses available. If your bank uses online training, see if they have a writing course.

However, a good first step will also provide the employees with a small reference book they can keep. Get each a copy of "Elements of Style" by Strunk and White. It is used in many writing courses at the high school and college level. It is inexpensive - a very small paperback. It is many writers' bible. Clear andd concise. For example, here is some of the content:

# INTRODUCTORY

# ELEMENTARY RULES OF USAGE

1. Form the possessive singular of nouns with 's
2. In a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma after each term except the last
3. Enclose parenthetic expressions between commas
4. Place a comma before and or but introducing an independent clause
5. Do not join independent clauses by a comma
6. Do not break sentences in two
7. A participial phrase at the beginning of a sentence must refer to the grammatical subject
8. Divide words at line-ends, in accordance with their formation and pronunciation



# ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES OF COMPOSITION

9. Make the paragraph the unit of composition: one paragraph to each topic
10. As a rule, begin each paragraph with a topic sentence; end it in conformity with the beginning
11. Use the active voice
12. Put statements in positive form
13. Omit needless words
14. Avoid a succession of loose sentences
15. Express co-ordinate ideas in similar form
16. Keep related words together
17. In summaries, keep to one tense
18. Place the emphatic words of a sentence at the end

I have given this to staff who were grammatically challenged - wrote sentences without verbs, structure made no sense, etc.

Also keep a dictionary and thesaurus in the office and encourage their use.

I echo kaybee's advice. The Strunk book is very short (my copy is 83 pages), intentionally so. I also keep a dictionary in my desk, the Oxford American Dictionary.

Words like hence, thus, then, nevertheless, therefore, moreover, however, indeed, yet, still, and so (when so means therefore) are not conjuctions. They are called formal conjunctive adverbs. Whenever they introduce a new sentence, they are always preceded by a period or semicolon.

Brody - in a prior life I worked for a branch of the Federal Reserve. They contracted with a local university to offer business writing courses. These were taught by an English professor in our office. It was an 8 week course, and started with the basics and included writing in class as well as homework. I seem to remember 10 people in each class, and there were 3 clsses given. I don't know how many employees you are talking about, but this was definetly money well spent. As a result, I know be knowing the correct way to be writing (okay, couldn't pass that one up, but they were excellent courses and we did see an improvement in our management staff's writing ability).

There is a nice article in FSA Times on the IIA website (under publications) that has some good suggestions on report writing.
As far as standard format, I do believe that the ultimate reader, e.g. board or CEO, get the most from the report when there is a one page executive summary and the remainder of the report follows a set format. We use Purpose, Scope, Backgroud if applicable and Conclusions. The E/S contains the Opinion and a highly condensed version of the major issues noted.

Thank you all for your responses, they are helpful. I don't have access to the FSA Newsletter as I am not an auditor, but I'll check with our interal audit manager and see if she can get a copy for me.

Way back in the "Dark Ages" when I was first on the "platform," the bank I worked for used to circulate carbon copies (look it up if you don't recognize the term, youngster ) of routine correspondence before it was filed away. Highly confidential stuff was not routed. The purpose was two-fold -- to show us "newbies" how others in the organization framed letters, reports, etc., and to let the "old hands" see examples of how we were doing in the composition department.

I didn't go to grad school so I wasn't aware they were mimicing audit reports
Here the board members read the E/S and some members may read the body of the report. The body of the report is more detailed for the process owner's use.
If the original poster has difficulty getting the FSA Times article, please let me know and I'll see if I can get it to you.

Thank you, I was able to get a copy of the article and it is very helpful. Appreciate everyone's input.