Writing Initiative

Accounting students have the opportunity to improve their writing skills using the resources provided by the UW-Madison Writing Center and the Deloitte-Sponsored Writing-Skill Improvement Initiative.

In response to demands for enhanced professional competencies in our graduates, beginning in 2000, the Department embarked on a program to improve our students' written communication skills.  The writing initiative was developed to provide a professionally relevant setting in which accounting students can practice their writing skills and includes a series of writing assignments that are completed by accounting students over a period of two years, beginning in the intermediate financial ccounting sequence.

The assignments require students to gather information related to the course topic, identify the relevant accounting literature for the topic, and develop a critical analysis of the issue based on their research. For each assignment, students prepare a written report containing their analysis (e.g., a memorandum or other professional report).
Writing in a professional context is an integral part of the writing initiative. Each writing assignment requires students to assume the role of accounting professionals -  students write as professionals for a professional audience  For example, in one assignment, students assumed the role of an audit staff member writing a report to a supervisor.

With the generous support of Deloitte & Touche, the accounting department has been able to implement important "logistical” elements in  implementing the writing initiative. First, at the beginning of each course, we deliver a lecture to students that emphasizes the importance of writing in the accounting profession, describes our writing initiative, and details the writing requirements and the available resources. Second, students receive consistent feedback on their writing performance throughout our writing initiative sequence. Two “graders” evaluate different dimensions of each writing initiative assignment. One grader is an English or Journalism Department Ph.D. student who assigns a grade for the written component based on grammatical conventions, organization, and professionalism of presentation. The other grader is either the course instructor or an Accounting Department Ph.D. student who assigns a grade for the accounting component based on technical accuracy and quality of analysis.  Finally, we provide students with accounting-specific writing reference materials. These materials include an accounting writing reference guide (May and May 1995) and an Internet web page tailored to our writing initiative. The web page contains accounting-specific writing techniques, tutorials on using relevant financial databases, and links to other writing resources at our university.

An article,  "Outcome Assessment of a Writing-Skill Improvement Initiative: Results and Methodological Implications," by Holly Ashbaugh, Karla Johnstone, and Terry Warfield (Issues in Accounting Education  May 2002) provides additional information about the writing initiative and provides evidence on the effectiveness of the program.