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Form matters

In accounting, substance trumps form.

In writing about accounting, it doesn’t. The form of what you write is as important as the substance.

Whenever you write something – whether an email, a business plan, a board report or a customer letter – there are three dimensions to get right.

Sure, there is the substance, or content, of the document. This is your message, and it is the reason for writing in the first place.

Before you write the substance you need to have a structure. There are lots of ways you might organise your thoughts and you need to work out which way is best for the message. Generally, I like structures that put the conclusion/recommendation/request first, and follows up with explanation. But sometimes you might decide a strict chronological structure is best. Or some other structure.

The third dimension is style. How your documents looks affects its readability. A document that looks like a jumble of random thoughts conveys that message to the intended reader. As a result they may not read it at all.

Therefore, the choices you make about typography, use of headings and titles, use of white (blank) space, formatting of tables and charts, etc will affect the reader’s ability to understand your message.

So, there you have it. When you write something you need to get the form right (i.e. the structure and style) as well as the substance.

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

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