We often hear from Heads of Audit and senior managers that auditors sometimes produce reports which fall below standard. Consequently, they have to spend a lot of time editing and polishing their team’s reports. Usually poor grammar and writing style are blamed. However, are these the main problems? In this talk, the Presenter, Mr. Anthony Behan will explain, with examples, that generally the main problems are more to do with the design, organization and linkage of information than with the English used. After all, the same problems occur in reports in Chinese.

Overall, this talk will present some problems and solutions to the design and structure of audit and risk assessment reports. Furthermore, it will introduce participants to a theoretical and practical framework to help them to improve the organisation and linkage of information in reports in a “linguistically scientific” way. The main objective of this talk is to introduce participants to a set of practical guidelines to cut down the amount of time they spend on reports. In addition, it will help them understand how to produce more effective reports that get results and action, and also get the immediate approval of their bosses.

Anthony Behan is the Founder and Managing Director of The Communication Group. He has an MA in Applied Linguistics specialising in Discourse Analysis and Corpus Linguistics. He specialises in Information Design and Information Structure in financial reporting; in particular audit /risk assessment reports. After conducting workshops for Grant Thornton, HSBC, John Swire and Sons, PwC, Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels, Ltd., Hospital Authority, Wal-mart, China and DBS Bank among others, he would like to share his views on Information Design and Information Structure in audit and risk assessment reports with members of ISACA.

Please reserve your place by e-mailing to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it by using the Reservation Reply slip. Please note that this seminar can be counted towards one ISACA continuing education hour. We hope to see you there!