A writing lesson from Excel
TL;DR Break long formulas into shorter steps. Break long sentences into short ones.
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Use your voice.
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.
Declutter your tables and charts
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.
Focus on the content (not the format)
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.
Begin with the end in mind.
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.
How to type a minus sign
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:
Here are some signs that your business writing needs to be improved
Your colleagues’ reports are shorter, clearer and better-presented than yours. Your manager asks you to rewrite a document you wrote. Your manager asks someone else to rewrite a document you wrote. Your manager makes major edits to a document you wrote without saying anything to you. Receivers of your emails ask you questions about things you thought you had explained in the email. You don’t know how to use styles to format text.
What are the signs that you could improve your writing
How do you go from the one on the left to the one on the right?Allow me to make some suggestions. First, your boss or mentor or a client tells you so. I suspect that is quite rare. More subtle is the case where your boss or mentor or client does not tell you outright but asks questions that you thought your document had answered. Or maybe you receive documents by other finance people and you’re impressed by how well technical material is explained.
How to get out of writer’s block
If you get stuck when you are writing a report or email, finish this sentence: > “I want you to know about this because …” Do it as fast as possible and trust your first answer. Now delete the words “I want you to know about this because” and keep developing what you have left. It will probably suggest some more questions to you that you need to answer. Soon you will be back in the flow.
Don’t write business reports like stories
Writing a chronological narrative puts conclusions and recommendations at the end, which busy readers might not see (especially if your story is boring!). Here are 𝘁𝘄𝗼 better ways to structure a report. If you are writing a short report or an email on a single topic, try the 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺–𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲–𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. First you describe the problem/issue, then explain why it has occurred before stating your recommended action(s). For longer reports there is the 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗽𝗲 approach.