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Accounting Memo BCOM230 May 10, 2010 Silvana Moffitt

Writing an interoffice memorandum is communicating internally within a certain business. When writing the memorandum there are differently styles that can be followed depending upon the audience to receive the message. Memorandums should contain factual, problem related information pertaining to the organization and be classified as reports. The memorandum, due to the length, should be organized appropriately beginning with the most important point and the opening should state the theme of the memorandum. If there are questions that need to be answered, the author would need to provide an explanation to the reader to ensure that both understand the request being made. Using a direct approach and beginning with the favorable answer, provides the best response. To change the current Accounting memorandum to be directed to the Executive Vice President, the writing style for the memorandum should be clear, concise, courteous and formal. The memorandum would include who the memorandum is direct to, the subject, the date and who is sending out the memorandum. The salutation and closing, as used in standard formal writing should not be used when writing a memorandum. A heading is not needed on the memorandum sent; the subject line of the memorandum provides the information and is followed by the memorandum for further explanation. The example memorandum provided is not correctly addressed to fit the audience of high rank executives. It should be formatted to explain information being requested. If the memorandum to the executive offices is in response to the memorandum sent to the co-worker, it should provide an overview of the requested information, any changes made or being requested to be made, and background information; including statistics, graphs, charts and reasoning behind the decision. The memorandum can be direct and begin by answering any questions that were presented to the author.

Failing to know who the target audience is, could cause the author to leave out necessary information or to provide information that does not need to be included. By identifying the target audience it provides the writing style that needs to be constructed. If this memorandum was from co-worker to co-worker it could be more casual. In this case, the author would present a more formal approach to reach the target audience.