This is the third of my five tips for writing about financial subjects The aim of tables and charts is to convey a message to the reader. For that you want the message to be clear. This means: - clear away gridlines - be careful about the use of colour
This is the second of my five tips for writing about financial subjects. The big problem with apps like Microsoft Word and Outlook is the fact that they show you what your writing looks like. This can distract you from the act of writing the words that will convey your
Each day this week I will share a tip to help you write financial documents. Here's the first one. Begin with the end in mind. Before you start writing make sure you understand what you and the reader want from the document. If you want a decision then
When you’re writing a report or an email you probably use a hyphen (the key to the right of the zero) when you want a minus sign. It’s OK, but a hyphen is too short because it’s intended to be a connector in words like co-ordination. A
For everything you write you need to understand how your reader will read it. Some things are **read closely**, word by word. Students can expect this for their essays. You can’t expect this for anything you write that has more than two paragraphs. Others are **skimmed**, with readers only
<ul> <li>Your colleagues’ reports are shorter, clearer and better-presented than yours.</li> <li>Your manager asks you to rewrite a document you wrote.</li> <li>Your manager asks someone else to rewrite a document you wrote.<
If you get stuck when you are writing a report or email, finish this sentence: > “I want you to know about this because ...” Do it as fast as possible and trust your first answer. Now delete the words “I want you to know about this because” and keep developing
Writing a chronological narrative puts conclusions and recommendations at the end, which busy readers might not see (especially if your story is boring!). Here are 𝘁𝘄𝗼 better ways to structure a report. If you are writing a short report or an email on a single topic, try the 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺–𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲–𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. First you describe
Allow me to make some suggestions. First, your boss or mentor or a client tells you so. I suspect that is quite rare. More subtle is the case where your boss or mentor or client does not tell you outright but asks questions that you thought your document had answered.
<p>Excel changed the world by allowing users to format and beautify data, although this is often at the cost of clarity. This trend is worse with Microsoft Word, where users are bombarded with formatting options. That massive ribbon at the top of the screen is a siren
The 3Ss of effective documents: substance, structure and style. # Substance The content of the document. This is your message, and it is the reason for writing in the first place. # Structure There are lots of ways you might organise your thoughts and you need to work out which way is
One of my former bosses always wanted "KISS" reports. Keep it simple, stupid. It's easier to say than do. Us technical folk think in technical terms but, here's the thing, when we communicate to non-technical people we need to simplify. Here's an