Genre analysis of tax computation letters: How and why tax accountants write the way they do

This study is a genre analysis which explores the specific discourse community of tax accountants. Tax computation letters from one international accounting firm in Hong Kong were analyzed and compared. To probe deeper into the tax accounting discourse community, a group of tax accountants from the same firm was observed and questioned. The texts analyzed and the data from the observation and interviews with the accountants highlight, among other things, the prevalence of intertextuality in their discourse. There also seems to be a trend towards faxing instead of posting tax computation letters, while e-mail is not considered appropriate for the conveyance of such letters. The implications of the findings are presented with possible suggestions for future research. © 2005 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The American University.