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ACCA Applied Knowledge · Business and Technology · Communicating in business

Sanjay receives an email from a colleague which he must forward to a client. The email chain includes some candid internal comments about the client's late payments. What is the BEST action for Sanjay to take before forwarding?

Sanjay should strip out the candid internal comments and send the client only the relevant, appropriate information. Email is easily retained and passed on, so forwarding the whole chain risks breaching confidentiality and damaging the client relationship.

  1. AForward the entire chain so the client has full context
  2. BRemove or avoid forwarding the internal comments and send only the relevant, appropriate informationCorrect
  3. CForward it and mark it as urgent
  4. DForward it but copy in the colleague's manager

Explanation

Emails can be retained, forwarded and disclosed, so confidential or sensitive internal comments should not be passed to external parties. Sanjay should send only what is appropriate. Marking it urgent or copying a manager does not address the confidentiality problem.

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