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You don’t have to use long words to be professional.

I think somewhere during the journey towards a professional accounting qualification we adopt accounting-speak. Some of the words we learn are very specific, technical terms and we have to use them. I’m thinking of words like depreciation and recognition.

But there is tendency amongst accountants to overwrite and use pretentious words. We write facilitate instead of manage; dialogue instead of talk about; apologise instead of say sorry.

The end result is writing that is longer and more complicated than it needs to be. We do it to sound professional. We do it to justify our fees. We do it because we can.

We do it because we don’t care whether our reader understands our message.

I urge you, though, to cut out the ten-dollar words. Use short words. Write so that your reader gets your message. If they understand what you are telling them about their business they will know you’re a professional.

Gary Bandy Limited is a company registered in Cardiff, number 5660437.

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