The best financial communicators don't hide behind complexity. They cut through it. They replace "utilize" with "use." They break up walls of text. They explain concepts like they're talking to a smart colleague, not performing for an academic journal.
Your boss hands back your draft report with red ink everywhere. "Can we add a section on market trends?" "Let's include more data." "We need another chart showing the quarterly breakdown." Sound familiar? Here's what almost never happens: "Can
Most people don’t realise how unclear their writing is. Clear writing isn’t just about grammar or big words. It’s about stripping away the clutter so your message gets through. If your writing is cloudy, your meaning gets lost. Take a fresh look at your last email or
Matthew Butterick has a great website and book called Typography for Lawyers. Inspired by that, here is lesson 1 of typography for accountants. You can make your documents clearer and easier to read with some simple changes that will take you less than 5 minutes. The secret lies in making
What can accountants learn from writers? Great writers don’t just write—they read, a lot. They learn what works and what doesn’t and sharpen their own skills. Accountants who want to communicate more clearly should borrow this habit. Next time you read a finance report (or anything) written
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
When you write about finance you need to be in the top left quadrant of the above chart. How do you do that? You put the bottom line up front. Tell the reader right at the beginning what your key message is. You’re not writing a mystery story. if
The conversation about AI in accounting is louder than ever. But here’s what hasn’t changed: insight is the most valuable skill an accountant can offer. And insight requires real thought. AI can process data at lightning speed and spot patterns you might miss, but that’s not the
If you’re an auditor or accountant, numbers are everywhere in your writing. But it’s not just about choosing between “5” or “five.” Being clear, consistent, and smart about how you use numbers can make a big difference in how your message lands. If your numbers aren’t clear,
The way people read has changed and so should the way we write. When newspapers first went online, journalists wrote articles in the same way they always had. This meant articles were often split across several webpages with a button at the bottom of each page to go to the
For some people hell is other people. For me, it’s other people’s PowerPoint slides. We’ve all sat through bad presentations. * Too many words. * Tiny charts. * The presenter reading every word out loud. * Or looking at the screen, not at us. They're boring. They're
Want to write finance content that actually gets read? Start with the 3Ls of financial writing: language, layout and look. * Language – Use plain English to explain your ideas and messages without dumbing them down. * Layout – Structure your content so the message is clear at a glance. * Look – Make your document
Welcome — and thanks for reading. This blog is for finance professionals who want to write with more clarity, purpose, and impact. I cover topics like: * Presenting complicated and technical ideas in plain language * Common writing mistakes and easy ways to fix them * Tips to improve your productivity when writing * Getting
In the public sector, written reports need to be clear and credible because the audience is usually non-experts. Yes, AI can generate reports fast. But it doesn’t understand your stakeholders, your risks, or your political context. And let’s be clear: AI isn’t actually intelligent. It doesn'
PowerPoint allows speakers to pretend that they are giving a real talk, and audiences to pretend that they are listening. (Edward Tufte, 2006) Ouch! Take a moment to reflect on your own presentations. Have you ever been in front of an audience (in the room or on the screen) and
Most presentations would be better without slides. Because most slides compete against the presenter instead of supporting them. I know what it's like. A presentation is looming and you leave it late to create slides. And when you do finally open PowerPoint you do the obvious thing: you
All those borders are clutter. They get in the way of the message. The vertical lines obviously get in the way of a reader scanning across the rows. If you have your data in columns that are aligned (left for text, right for numbers) then let the white space between columns do the work …
Modelling behaviour is a core part of leadership. If you’re a finance leader, your presentations should inspire good practice in your team ... but too often they inspire mediocrity. When it’s your turn to present, do you: * Ask someone to put together a bullet-point slide deck? * Glance at the
We don’t send original letters back with our replies—so why do we include the full text of every email in our responses? Email systems automatically create message threads. There’s no need to repeat every line of a previous message. Instead: 1. Highlight the sentence or two you’
A: Constraints lead to innovation. The scientists working for DeepSeek didn't have the money and data centres filled with £30,000 microchips so they had to find a different way to build artificial intelligence models. They did it by asking better questions of the data rather than cramming
Not everything that is more difficult is more meritorious. So said Saint Thomas Aquinas. Let me paraphrase it: not every long document is worth the time it takes to write it and read it. Remember that when it comes to writing your next long-ish document. Think about whether you are
Have you ever received an email asking for a document, someone’s phone number, some suggested dates for a meeting, and your thoughts on a current issue? Emails like that are hard to respond to. You likely don’t have all the information to hand, so you end up replying