I help accountants and auditors turn insights into impact by improving their business writing.
“You’re a unicorn.” That’s what Colleen Trolove said to me because I am someone who’s as comfortable with numbers as he is with words. And that’s why I’ve recorded a set of videos for the @school to show you how to write about numbers. What topics does the course cover? ✅ How to deal with technical financial terms and jargon ✅ How to put numbers into text to create the emphasis you want
Want your documents to look more professional? Here’s a simple way to make your documents look more professional in under 5 minutes. The secret lies in making the body text look great because, let’s face it, there’s more of that than there is headings or tables. First, choose a good font (if you are allowed). I know some corporations insist on a standard font, and it’s likely to be a boring one like Arial or Times New Roman.
Tables in reports are helpful for presenting information but you need to help your reader to see your message. Formatting your table can help but too much formatting works against you. All you’re doing is adding clutter. In particular, don’t use “zebra striping” (where alternative rows are shaded one darker, one lighter). You may think it makes your tables more organised as well as pretty, but it doesn’t actually help the reader focus on what’s important.
Here’s a second clip from my appearance the Human Too podcast where I explain that being an introvert does not stop me from standing in front of a hundred people and talking. As well as being on the human Too podcast I will be delivering a presentation skills webinar with Hannah on 26 September 2024. You can find more details and register here.
TL;DR Break long formulas into shorter steps. Break long sentences into short ones.
This is the fourth of my five tips for writing about finance. Voice transcription is built into computers and phones now so why not use it to turn your thoughts into writing. The big advantage of this is speed. I’m sure you can speak faster than you can type. The technology has got much better at grammar these days that you don’t have to specify punctuation marks; it figures out what’s needed, where.
This is the third of my five tips for writing about financial subjects The aim of tables and charts is to convey a message to the reader. For that you want the message to be clear. This means: clear away gridlines be careful about the use of colour so that it enhances rather than obscures the message give the table or chart a meaningful headline instead of a factual title order the data in the way that makes the message clear (such as making the most important item the top row of the table) consider rounding figures to 2 significant figures.
This is the second of my five tips for writing about financial subjects. The big problem with apps like Microsoft Word and Outlook is the fact that they show you what your writing looks like. This can distract you from the act of writing the words that will convey your message. Ignore all that stuff and focus on the words. Only when they are right should you think about how they look.
Each day this week I will share a tip to help you write financial documents. Here’s the first one. Begin with the end in mind. Before you start writing make sure you understand what you and the reader want from the document. If you want a decision then make it easy for the audience to know that is your purpose. If you are simply reporting something for in-formation, make that clear too.
When you’re writing a report or an email you probably use a hyphen (the key to the right of the zero) when you want a minus sign. It’s OK, but a hyphen is too short because it’s intended to be a connector in words like co-ordination. A minus sign looks better if you use an en-dash (–), which is a dash that is the same width as an “n”. See for yourself: