Presenting Material

As an accountant there are a number of reports and presentations that will come along during your career. While calculating and producing numbers is a big part of being an accountant, you must understand what these numbers mean. Being able to present your material to the business, school, or client you are working for in a way that they can understand these numbers is very important.

With the ever increasing advance in technology today there are numerous ways you can get your point across, here are a few.

• Traditional Point and Explain: While this method can often cause a yawn or two, it is a simple way to explain the numbers and show what they mean to your client. Don't forget to ask if anyone has any questions.
  
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• PowerPoint: Using this feature can really organize your ideas that you might have for your client or company. If used correctly, PowerPoint can illustrate your ideas and make them come to life to your audience. Remember to rehearse your presentation even if all your information is on the slides!
  
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• Excel: This program can really help an accountant and their organization of numbers. As you can see in this picture you can create graphs bases on the information you have in your spreadsheet. This can clearly show your audience where spending, how much is sold and etc.
  
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Overall Writing Tips

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Articles at BNET." Find Articles at BNET | News Articles, Magazine Back Issues & Reference Articles on All Topics. 09 Apr. 2009 .

Collaborative Writing

At some point you will more than likely collborate with others in order to produce a superior end product such as, a report, a resume or a project. With each team member contributing to the planning, designing and writing you can draw on eachother's skills and create something that all will be impressed with.


When to collaborate

1. The project needs special expertise in many subject areas
2. The merging of different ideas and philosophies will benefit the project
3. The project could be very large, time consuming or of great importance and therefore requires a team approach.

Advantages and Disadvantages

• The more minds working on the project the better
• You can get immediate feedback from your collaboration partners
• Partners can help eachother through difficult points in the process and can ease stress and frustration
• Partners will write better when they know that others depend on their contribution to the project.
• Partners become more involved and connected to a project when they work on it in collaboration
• Collaboration can be demanding on your time and energy
• Partners are exposed to criticism from their peers
• Conflicts can arise among partners about workload and participation

The process of collaborative writing can add a whole new dynamic to your writing style and technique. Lasting partnerships can be formed through the effort, and the final result can be a project that you are proud to put your name on.

Oliu, Walter E., Brusaw, Charles T., Alred, Gerald J. (2007). Writing That Works (9th edition). New York: St. Martin's.

Communication: Resolving Conflict

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BusinessEnglishPod/~3/ADyEebFBvE4/

Communication with your colleagues and employees must be a two way road. It is very important to be open to suggestions from both your boss and peers, and if you are the head of the office, listen to what your employees have to say. When conflict arises, work it out and talk to the person you are having trouble with. Doing this will keep you and the people around you focused on what needs to be done. This video shows how to deal with such conflict in a story type manner. Pretty interesting. Check it out.

A Few Notes for Active Listening

Mistakes and errors are bound to happen in the office setting, one simple miscommunication can cause tremendous loss. By simply becoming a better listener, these mistakes can be avoided. Here is a short video towards making you a better listener.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tO68uTk-T_E

Ten Tips to Become a Better Listener

http://www.box.net/shared/cezkktn2jh

"The Top 10 Tips for Becoming a Better Listener." CoachVille Knowledge Base. 03 Apr. 2009 .

Miscommunication In the Workplace

This ia a classic example of miscommunication. Active listening is the most important skill you will need to communicate effectively.

Active Listening Includes:

• Look directly at the speaker
• Watch the speaker's body language
• Do not get distracted
• Lean forward to show interest
• Smile and nod occasionally
• Provide feedback by paraphrasing
• Ask questions

These tools will help you better understand you speaker's message.