There are countless places where you can find tips for better writing. They’ll all say you should be brief. Cut out the waffle and the jargon. The point of cutting your draft is not to make it shorter, but to make it better.
Well, sometimes I think you should cut out 100% of a document. Just don’t write it!
Instead of less is more it’s a case of nothing is more than enough.
When could this be the case? Here’s an example.
When you’ve completed an internal audit, you’ve had the close meeting, there were no findings that affect the organisation’s key risks and the ‘client’ manager is happy. Why bother to write a report about that situation. The Institute of Internal Auditors guidelines do not prescribe that auditors have to report their findings in writing.
Can you think of other examples from the finance world where we put things in writing that don’t need to be?