Question
Read the following case.Then, answer the questions below to begin the report writing process. You don't like to do such things, but you must report
Read the following case.Then, answer the questions below to begin the report writing process.
You don't like to do such things, but you must report one of your subordinates for cheating on his expense report claim submissions.In fact, you will recommend his discharge.
One of your duties as sales manager of the Hi-Tech Corporation is to review and approve the expense vouchers of your salespeople.For the past two months you have been concerned about the expenses claimed by Marcus A. Weise.They have been highabout 30 percent above the norm.You talked to Marcus about the matter three times.He took offense each time, saying that his expenses were legitimate and noting that he had the receipts required (he did.)So each time you took no action and asked only that he watch his expenses in the future.
However, the Friday before last you made a startling observation.You were having dinner at the exclusive Bilbo Restaurant when you caught a glimpse of Marcus, his wife, and his two teenage children being escorted to a dining room at the rear of the restaurant.(You don't think he saw you.)
You thought nothing of the incident until you reviewed Weise's expense report claims at the end of the next week.Weise had submitted a receipt for $161.80 from Bilbo's restaurant, and it was for the night you saw him.On the voucher he had noted that this claim was for entertaining Paul Probst, Patricia Krahl, and Denton Parr of the Waymond-Mills Manufacturing Company (one of his good customers).After contacting each of these individuals, you discovered your suspicion of fraud was correct.
Thus, you wondered how often this had happened.Checking past records, you found that Weise had submitted two other vouchers for Friday night entertainment of customers.As Friday night is not a normal time for customer entertaining, you became suspicious.On one of the vouchers you noticed that Cyrus S. Sanders, whom you knew from your days of field selling, was named as one of the customers.You telephoned Cyrus who reported that Marcus had never entertained him, that he didn't know Marcus, and that he no longer had any duties that would make him a subject of such entertainment.
After checking with those named on the other suspicious voucher, you confronted Weise with the evidence.At first, he denied any wrongdoing.Then, minutes later in the confrontation, he admitted his guilt and promised that it would never happen again.He even promised to pay back "every cent I owe."However, employee theft is never tolerated.
Following company procedure, you will recommend to Gladys Jordan (vice president for sales) that Weise be fired.You will present your recommendation in a memorandum report, following the company's standard practice of beginning such a report with your conclusion(s) and recommendation(s) and providing supporting facts and analyses.And yes, you will recommend that $509.40the total amount of the vouchers that Weise admitted were fraudulentbe deducted from his final paycheck.While you have considered the voucher review process somewhat lax and in need of modification to avoid situations such as this, you will save that topic for discussion later on rather than as content for this report.
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The 5 questions listed in boldface are the ones used to help you organize your thoughts and plan your report.The statements in italics help to provide clarity when considering responses to the boldface questions.
1.What is the main purpose for writing this report?
What do you plan to accomplish?What problem(s) are you addressing/solving?
2.What content needs to be included in this report?
You will consider all content from the case, given your purpose for writing, when responding to this question.You may need (and are allowed) to create facts in your report provided they jibe with ones already given.Remember, all analytical reports contain Facts (and appropriate analysis of those facts.)Simply put, list the facts you will include.
Conclusion---What conclusion will your presentation and analysis of the facts lead to?Remember, you already know the entire situation but your reader does not, it will need to be written as a question, such that the report contains the answer to the question you state as part of your answer to item 2.For example, based on the presentation and analysis of facts, the question to be answered in a report about the results of a new ad campaign might be:Did the ad campaign appear to have an impact on sales?
Recommendation---Based on your conclusion(s) drawn, you must ask another question for this content.Following the previous example, the question to be answered here might be: What action(s) should be taken?
3.Will direct or indirect order be used to organize report content?
As stated in the case, Direct order will be used.See case attachment for Direct vs. Indirect order for analytical reports.
4.What content will be placed in the Introductory, Discussion, and Closing sections?
The content for this response has already been determined, for all you will do is take the list items from Question 2 above and organize them according to Introductory, Discussion, and Closing section content.If it's not listed in No. 2 above, you should not list it as part of your answer to No. 4.In essence, you are organizing your previously identified content.
5.Will graphical display techniques be included?If so, which one(s) and why?
Based on your ebook readings and instructor-provided documents, determine whether a graphical display technique is appropriate---and if so, which one(s) and why?Then, create (if necessary) your graphical display technique(s) and include as part of your Discussion section content.
When you have successfully completed this 5-step planning process, you will use it to compose the first draft of your analytical memorandum report.
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