Tell your reader what they are looking at

{{< summary >}} Using charts in your documents could save you and your reader hundreds of words. But your chart is a wasted opportunity if the reader doesn’t get your message from it. Or worse, skips past without even looking at it. {{< /summary >}}<!--more--> ![](https:

Free resources for your presentations

Your presentation will be more memorable is you use more images and less text in your slides. But whether the images are photographs or charts or diagrams, they need to be high quality. Don't use clip art, or low resolution stock photos with watermarks on them. I guess

Fix the line length

{{< summary >}} Here’s an instant tip to make your document easier to read. Set the margins and font-size so that the length of each line is around 65 characters. That’s two and a half alphabets. {{< /summary >}}<!--more--> abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklm A line length of about

How to make your documents look right every time

{{< summary >}} After you’ve written a document in Word do you find the text does not look right? Are there unexpected line breaks or extra-wide spaces between some words? You need to check your invisibles! {{< /summary >}}<!--more--> In order to fix the formatting glitches

Use ChatGPT for inspiration rather than creation

{{< summary >}} ChatGPT is “like a brainstorming partner who is tireless but not very smart.” {{< /summary >}}<!--more-->  There are so many posts about how to use ChatGPT to transform your work and life. I’m not

3 tips to write faster

{{< summary >}} Here are three ways to write faster and make fewer mistakes. {{< /summary >}}<!--more--> ## 1. Use keyboard shortcuts Keeping your hands on your keyboard to do routine things like select, copy and paste text, open and close documents, apply formatting styles is much quicker

Don’t use pie charts

<!-- Don’t use pie charts --> Let me explain why you should avoid pie charts — and donut charts — in most documents and presentations. Pie charts are easy to create and they’re colourful and you might want to include lots of them in the reports and slidedecks

Practice makes better

I've read lots of posts where people explain how they are most productive before they eat breakfast, or late at night, or after they've been to the gym. I'm none of those things. I've never had a good answer to the question

Three mistakes to avoid when presenting financial data.

1. Don’t overwhelm with details: While it’s important to provide context, avoid overwhelming your clients with too much information. Stick to the most important points and keep the presentation concise. 2. Don’t make assumptions: Avoid making assumptions about your clients’ financial literacy. Ask questions to ensure that

Write headlines for your tables

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

Accountants can learn from writers…

Writers get better by practising their writing **AND** from reading the work of other writers. You can do the same. 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

5 reasons to improve your presentation skills

We’ve all been in the audience of a terrible presenter. They’re smart, they’re a professional, they have data, they have PowerPoint slides behind them. But they **have no idea** what a good presentation is let alone how to deliver one. Don’t let this be you. Here