There is no uniform convention even within American English for those two words, and I suspect within other dialects there isn’t, either. Your friend is correct, so far as the US Government goes. But really, it stops there. In a US-based corporation founded almost entirely by Americans and those who have learned American English, it is exactly the opposite. On the other hand, we have large departments (Europe, Asia) and smaller departments (Human Resources for the US division).

Existing patterns are common. In the US, an office is a small unit longer than a bureau. In the common sense, office is a small unit. Again, this is a pattern, and not a rule.

Even in the US Government, the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) is part of the Department of Homeland Security and has within it both offices and divisions, and divisions of offices, and offices inside divisions. In this kind of usage, offices probably have more specific tasks than divisions, which probably group tasks together… But really it’s the government, so one only expects so much reasoning in its organization.

There is no uniform convention even within American English for those two words, and I suspect within other dialects there isn’t, either. Your friend is correct, so far as the US Government goes. But really, it stops there. In a US-based corporation founded almost entirely by Americans and those who have learned American English, it is exactly the opposite. On the other hand, we have large departments (Europe, Asia) and smaller departments (Human Resources for the US division).

Existing patterns are common. In the US, an office is a small unit longer than a bureau. In the common sense, office is a small unit. Again, this is a pattern, and not a rule.

Even in the US Government, the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) is part of the Department of Homeland Security and has within it both offices and divisions, and divisions of offices, and offices inside divisions. In this kind of usage, offices probably have more specific tasks than divisions, which probably group tasks together… But really it’s the government, so one only expects so much reasoning in its organization.

There is no uniform convention even within American English for those two words, and I suspect within other dialects there isn’t, either. Your friend is correct, so far as the US Government goes. But really, it stops there. In a US-based corporation founded almost entirely by Americans and those who have learned American English, it is exactly the opposite. On the other hand, we have large departments (Europe, Asia) and smaller departments (Human Resources for the US division).

Existing patterns are common. In the US, an office is a small unit longer than a bureau. In the common sense, office is a small unit. Again, this is a pattern, and not a rule.

Even in the US Government, the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) is part of the Department of Homeland Security and has within it both offices and divisions, and divisions of offices, and offices inside divisions. In this kind of usage, offices probably have more specific tasks than divisions, which probably group tasks together… But really it’s the government, so one only expects so much reasoning in its organization.

There is no uniform convention even within American English for those two words, and I suspect within other dialects there isn’t, either. Your friend is correct, so far as the US Government goes. But really, it stops there. In a US-based corporation founded almost entirely by Americans and those who have learned American English, it is exactly the opposite. On the other hand, we have large departments (Europe, Asia) and smaller departments (Human Resources for the US division).

Existing patterns are common. In the US, an office is a small unit longer than a bureau. In the common sense, office is a small unit. Again, this is a pattern, and not a rule.

Even in the US Government, the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) is part of the Department of Homeland Security and has within it both offices and divisions, and divisions of offices, and offices inside divisions. In this kind of usage, offices probably have more specific tasks than divisions, which probably group tasks together… But really it’s the government, so one only expects so much reasoning in its organization.

There is no uniform convention even within American English for those two words, and I suspect within other dialects there isn’t, either. Your friend is correct, so far as the US Government goes. But really, it stops there. In a US-based corporation founded almost entirely by Americans and those who have learned American English, it is exactly the opposite. On the other hand, we have large departments (Europe, Asia) and smaller departments (Human Resources for the US division).

Existing patterns are common. In the US, an office is a small unit longer than a bureau. In the common sense, office is a small unit. Again, this is a pattern, and not a rule.

Even in the US Government, the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) is part of the Department of Homeland Security and has within it both offices and divisions, and divisions of offices, and offices inside divisions. In this kind of usage, offices probably have more specific tasks than divisions, which probably group tasks together… But really it’s the government, so one only expects so much reasoning in its organization.

There is no uniform convention even within American English for those two words, and I suspect within other dialects there isn’t, either. Your friend is correct, so far as the US Government goes. But really, it stops there. In a US-based corporation founded almost entirely by Americans and those who have learned American English, it is exactly the opposite. On the other hand, we have large departments (Europe, Asia) and smaller departments (Human Resources for the US division).

Existing patterns are common. In the US, an office is a small unit longer than a bureau. In the common sense, office is a small unit. Again, this is a pattern, and not a rule.

Even in the US Government, the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) is part of the Department of Homeland Security and has within it both offices and divisions, and divisions of offices, and offices inside divisions. In this kind of usage, offices probably have more specific tasks than divisions, which probably group tasks together… But really it’s the government, so one only expects so much reasoning in its organization.

There is no uniform convention even within American English for those two words, and I suspect within other dialects there isn’t, either. Your friend is correct, so far as the US Government goes. But really, it stops there. In a US-based corporation founded almost entirely by Americans and those who have learned American English, it is exactly the opposite. On the other hand, we have large departments (Europe, Asia) and smaller departments (Human Resources for the US division).

Existing patterns are common. In the US, an office is a small unit longer than a bureau. In the common sense, office is a small unit. Again, this is a pattern, and not a rule.

Even in the US Government, the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) is part of the Department of Homeland Security and has within it both offices and divisions, and divisions of offices, and offices inside divisions. In this kind of usage, offices probably have more specific tasks than divisions, which probably group tasks together… But really it’s the government, so one only expects so much reasoning in its organization.

There is no uniform convention even within American English for those two words, and I suspect within other dialects there isn’t, either. Your friend is correct, so far as the US Government goes. But really, it stops there. In a US-based corporation founded almost entirely by Americans and those who have learned American English, it is exactly the opposite. On the other hand, we have large departments (Europe, Asia) and smaller departments (Human Resources for the US division).

Existing patterns are common. In the US, an office is a small unit longer than a bureau. In the common sense, office is a small unit. Again, this is a pattern, and not a rule.

Even in the US Government, the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) is part of the Department of Homeland Security and has within it both offices and divisions, and divisions of offices, and offices inside divisions. In this kind of usage, offices probably have more specific tasks than divisions, which probably group tasks together… But really it’s the government, so one only expects so much reasoning in its organization.

There is no uniform convention even within American English for those two words, and I suspect within other dialects there isn’t, either. Your friend is correct, so far as the US Government goes. But really, it stops there. In a US-based corporation founded almost entirely by Americans and those who have learned American English, it is exactly the opposite. On the other hand, we have large departments (Europe, Asia) and smaller departments (Human Resources for the US division).

Existing patterns are common. In the US, an office is a small unit longer than a bureau. In the common sense, office is a small unit. Again, this is a pattern, and not a rule.

Even in the US Government, the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) is part of the Department of Homeland Security and has within it both offices and divisions, and divisions of offices, and offices inside divisions. In this kind of usage, offices probably have more specific tasks than divisions, which probably group tasks together… But really it’s the government, so one only expects so much reasoning in its organization.

There is no uniform convention even within American English for those two words, and I suspect within other dialects there isn’t, either. Your friend is correct, so far as the US Government goes. But really, it stops there. In a US-based corporation founded almost entirely by Americans and those who have learned American English, it is exactly the opposite. On the other hand, we have large departments (Europe, Asia) and smaller departments (Human Resources for the US division).

Existing patterns are common. In the US, an office is a small unit longer than a bureau. In the common sense, office is a small unit. Again, this is a pattern, and not a rule.

Even in the US Government, the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) is part of the Department of Homeland Security and has within it both offices and divisions, and divisions of offices, and offices inside divisions. In this kind of usage, offices probably have more specific tasks than divisions, which probably group tasks together… But really it’s the government, so one only expects so much reasoning in its organization.