If you have a short message to send you can save yourself some time by putting the whole message into the subject line. This is also better for the receiver since they do not need to open the message unless/until they are going to reply to it. The trick
Bad writing costs your organisation a lot of money, too. A few years ago Josh Bernoff did some research into the Sad State of Business Writing. He surveyed business people who write at work and got over 500 responses. Amongst his conclusions were these gems: * Bad writing was costing the
Richard Feynman said, If you can't explain something to a first year student, then you haven't really understood. Feynman was talking about physics but I think the same sentiment applies to accounting and finance. Except, instead of a first year student you should be able to
You’ve read many times the advice to keep your writing clear and concise. But how do you do that? Here are three things you can do on your next piece of writing. First it means being a brutal editor of your work. Re-read your work before you “publish”
Your reader has limited time. Do them a favour with your emails and reports and keep them as short as possible. If a document is short (it fits onto 1 page or 1 screen) the reader can read it and remember what you want them to remember. If you include
The technology for writing internal audit reports has changed since I wrote my first one in 1987 but not the content or structure. I wrote my first audit reports in the 1980s by hand and they were then copied by a typist before being sent to the client. Modern technology
Top performers warm up before they perform. This goes for writers as well as athletes and singers. John Steinbeck wrote with Black Wing pencils on yellow pads. He started the day sharpening his pencils and writing letters. I’m sure the letters mattered to him and their addressees but this
Recently I read an article by Adam Bryant, a former editor at the New York Times, in which he explained that an effective manager requires strong written communication skills. Two of the biggest traps to avoid are: ❌ Treating writing as different from speaking. Don’t use words and sentences in
Over the holidays I came across an article by Jane Rosenzweig in the Harvard Business Review that happens to have been translated by HBR into this short video. If you like this video why not follow Jane Rosenzweig’s Writing Hacks on Substack.
writing
Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. You’ve read many times the advice to keep your writing clear and concise. You get concise sentences when you take out the words you don’t need. But how
auditing
Last week I wrote that perfection comes from including only the essential. Let me explain one way to apply that thinking to an audit report or similar (as taught to me when I worked at a Big Four firm). Let’s say that the work being reported has identified 10
What did the authors Raymond Chandler, John Steinbeck and Ernest Hemingway have in common? Well, aside from being American, they all had a writing style that was direct; they did not waste words. Sometimes I like to read a book with a lyrical style but for the most part I