I help accountants and auditors turn insights into impact by improving their business writing.
A picture paints a thousand words. A table of data could save you (and your reader) hundreds of words. But your table is a wasted opportunity if the reader doesn’t get your message from it. Or worse, skips over it. Here’s a tip to make the tables in your documents have more impact. Give every table in your documents a headline. Put some thought into choosing the headline. It is natural perhaps to use a factual title.
Here’s a quick way to improve your writing. Whenever you find yourself using “very” for emphasis try to replace two words (very + {target}) with one word. For example, write foolish instead of very stupid, or giant instead of very big. You get the idea. And if you cannot think of a replacement word, check out the Lose the Very website. It does just one thing. You type in a word and it suggests a replacement.
If (when?) you identify that there is room for improvement in your writing, what should you do?
I’ve been creating a bento.me page. Check out bento.me/garybandy
Writers get better through practice but they are also encouraged to read as much as they can, to learn from others. I think accountants who want to improve their writing skills should heed this advice. Read finance reports and documents from inside and outside your organisation with a sense of curiosity. If you read something that seems to be very effective, ask yourself how does it differs from what you would write?
You’ve been writing since before you can remember. You’re better at writing now than you were in high school. No one complains about what you write. There’s nothing you need to learn to get your job done. Or is there? Here are five reasons why you might want to improve your writing. 1️⃣ You’re too busy and need to find a way to save time 2️⃣ You’re wasting your clients’ and colleagues’ time
The accountant who gets the promotion, isn’t the one with the insight but the one who can explain the insight.
That’s why you need to invest in your verbal and written communication skills.
Today is publication day for the new edition of Financial Management and Accounting in the Public Sector. To go with it I have created a set of pages on my website with links to further reading, videos, audio and other resources.
Once your report has the right words in the right order you still need to check it for mistakes. This requires a close-reading of the text and it can be difficult to see mistakes when you are so familiar with the text. Here are three simple ways that can help you spot mistakes. 1️⃣ Change the colour, font and/or size of the text. If you have used a serif font try changing to a sans-serif or fixed width font.