Don’t write your finance reports like detective stories
Don’t write your finance reports like detective stories.
Don’t make your reader sift through pages and pages of clues before the real findings and recommendations are revealed on the final page.
This problem–cause–solution approach where you describe the problem/issue, then explain why it has occurred before stating your recommended action(s) works OK for short reports or emails on a single topic.
For longer reports you need the telescope approach. This puts the most important information first.
- Start with the summary, conclusions, and/or recommendations.
- Follow this with analysis of the issues, context and evidence.
- All the background material, the methodology, research findings, processes, etc comes last (possibly in appendices or in a separate document at the end of a hyperlink).
Don’t let your next report be an unsolved mystery. Let’s work together to make your message clear from page one.
