How an Accounting Professor Writes

Quick Facts

What’s your favorite word?

Indeed  

What are you reading right now?

A lot of James Patterson books.

What is a word you always misspell?

Manager

 

Frederick Teufel

Accounting

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SJU Writes: How much writing do CPAs actually do?

FT: A lot of my writing [in my job] was messages to my team. In my last role, I had 450 employees on my team, and I had to write to them often about things that were going on. I had to make sure my writing was clear, concise, and direct. You always had to create a story. Even though the writing is supposed to be specific and non embellished, the writing has to be a story people are going to be able to read and understand.

SJU Writes: Is writing more valuable in business than some people may think?

FT: The more advanced you are in your career, the more important communications become, and the more time you spend doing them. The numbers are the easy part. It’s telling the story where it is difficult. You also have to recognize who your stakeholders are, who your constituents are that you’re communicating with, and understand what their motivations and their role might be.

SJU Writes: You’ve said Jack Bogle, the founder and CEO of Vanguard, is a mentor. Why?

FT: The words that came out of his mouth, and the way in which he used them, were incredible. I never really valued communication until I started to spend more time with him. He was very deliberate in what he communicated and how he communicated. It was very important to him to get the right message across.

—Lauren O’Brien ’22