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# How long is too long?
- URL: https://www.plainfinance.net/how-long-is-too-long/
- Published: 2026-01-08T08:59:28.000Z
- Updated: 2026-01-08T08:59:27.000Z
- Author: Gary Bandy

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: nobody reads 730 pages before a meeting.

Not the chair. Not the non-executives. Not the finance director.

When finance reports become doorstops, three things happen:

- **First, important information gets buried.** That critical risk on page 487? The material variance on page 623? They disappear into the noise.
- **Second, readers stop reading.** They skim. They skip sections. They focus on the executive summary and hope nothing vital was hiding in the appendices.
- **Third, trust erodes.** When you consistently produce documents that are impossible to consume, people start questioning your judgement.

**A document is too long when it contains information the reader doesn't need to make the decision you're asking them to make**.

Not information that might be interesting. Not information we've always included. Not information that shows how hard we worked.

The best finance reports follow an 80/20 structure:

- **80% of the document** should be the core information that every reader needs. The financial position, key variances, significant risks, decisions required.
- **20% of the document** should be supporting appendices for readers who need to go deeper.

Most finance teams get this backwards. They produce reports where 80% is supporting detail and 20% is core information.

Then they wonder why nobody reads them.

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*Want to write better, clearer, shorter finance documents?* [*Get in touch with me*](mailto:gary@garybandy.co.uk) *to learn more about document makeovers, communication coaching, and online learning.*