Gary Bandy helps public sector finance professionals write clearer reports, papers, and posts by ghostwriting or improving what they’ve drafted.
Finance people know their reports are rubbish. Too long, too technical, too boring. Hard to read. Then they go back to their desks and write exactly the same way. I've been in finance for over 30 years. I've written two textbooks and taught at business schools.
Your tables are invisible. Not literally. But readers skip them. They see a block of numbers, a generic label at the top, and their eyes glaze over. They move on. You spent time building that table. You chose the data carefully. But without a clear message, it's just
Your readers shouldn't have to dig through paragraphs to find what matters. Put your conclusion first. Total costs go at the top. Decisions you need belong in paragraph one. This saves your reader time and effort. High impact for them, with minimal effort. That's what your
Most finance professionals write a report, read it through once, fix the typos, and hit send. That's not editing. That's proofreading. For finance professionals aiming for CFO roles, clear writing signals clear thinking. And clear writing requires good editing. Here's what real editing looks
The problem with public sector reports isn't the content. It's that we're still writing like it's 2005. We format documents for A4 paper and desktop screens. Then we email them to executives who read them on phones during their commute. * Your 40-
Your readers don't have time to hunt for information. They need to find what matters in seconds, not minutes. That's why plain language isn't just about the words you choose. It's about how you present them. Think about the last report you
That's the uncomfortable truth most finance professionals don't want to hear. Your readers are drowning in emails, back-to-back meetings, and competing priorities. If your opening doesn't grab them immediately, they'll skim the executive summary and move on. Here are 3
Yesterday, I received an audit committee agenda pack. 730 pages. Seven. Hundred. And. Thirty. Pages. For one meeting. I've been a council finance director. I've sat through countless committee meetings. I've written hundreds of reports myself. And I can tell you with absolute certainty:
This week is an opportunity for change because everyone's starting fresh. Inboxes are being cleared. Priorities are being reset. Teams are regrouping. It's the perfect moment to change how you communicate financial information. Before the holidays, you probably sent reports full of technical language because "
The US State Department just switched from Calibri back to Times New Roman. Neither font is particularly good for reading on a screen. (Times is good for a newspaper, though.) But the bigger issue is this: font choice is only one small part of making documents readable. I see finance
I've been writing finance reports for over 30 years. Most people do it wrong. They start with background. Build up slowly. Save the conclusion for page 47. There's a better approach. It's called the Minto Pyramid. It flips everything upside down: 1. Answer first.
Every reader of your reports has the same three questions. * What's your point? * How do you know? * Why should I care? If your introduction doesn't signal you've got answers to all three questions, you've already lost your reader. Here's what