5
WRITE FROM THE START
‘Writing is easy,’ Gene Fowler, Oscar-winning writer and director, once said. ‘All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.’ If you’ve ever stared at a blank page on a computer screen, you may know the feeling and the procrastinating that comes with it. This chapter is about how to go from a blank screen to writing a report or other communication. Both this chapter and chapter 6 focus specifically on writing reports to explain the writing process, but the same techniques can be applied to whatever communication you are writing.
PREPARING TO WRITE
You may think you are ready to put pen to paper or fingers to keys, but the best way to begin writing is to think and prepare. In his book, William Zinsser observes, ‘All writing is ultimately a question of solving a problem. It may be a problem of where to obtain facts or how to organise the material. It may be a problem of approach or attitude, tone or style. Whatever it is, it has to be confronted and solved.’1
Solving a problem? That’s what management accountants do: solve problems. Every day, someone in an organisation—a supervisor, a colleague, the head of a company—asks them to help solve problems. You can apply the same problem-solving strategies you use as a management accountant to solving the problem of writing. Start with a list of questions to consider with every writing project, large or small. This is not to suggest that writing is formulaic, but a list can help you to get organised and take a consistent approach to writing. Box 5-1 walks you through a list of questions and potential answers to consider as you prepare to write your business communication. You can refer back to it whenever you start a new project or need some guidance. The next sections walk you through the steps outlined in box 5-1.
Box 5-1: Writing: Questions to Consider
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You? Or someone else? |
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When is the right time to deliver the communication? |
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Purpose
Why are you writing your business communication? As shown in question 1 in box 5-1, there could be a variety of reasons. Regardless of the purpose, another way to look at why you are writing a report may be better considered as a means to an end. Thus, in the list of possible purposes that follows, collaborate is not an end itself, but a means to create a report. Report is not the end game; changing the company’s compensation system is. This is not to say you will always accomplish your goal. Consider the innovate example in the list. Although your supervisor may decline to pass along your innovation for reducing manufacturing costs to senior management, you should still have a goal. Consider the following list of possibilities for why you are writing:
Analyse a problem. You assist the CFO in writing a report that examines the reasons why the company’s cash flow is not sufficient to cover its operating costs.
Ask for action. You ask your supervisor whether you can attend a company training programme about communication.
Collaborate. You work with a team to write a report about how a new accounting rule will change your company’s financial reporting.
Consult. You ask a colleague for advice on writing a report.
Deliver news. The CFO sends a message to all employees that the company is increasing its performance bonuses for departments, teams and individuals.
Direct. Your supervisor tells you to have the report ready by 8am on Thursday.
Educate. You host a meeting with a group of managers to explain how the company uses cost accounting.
Inform. You send an e-mail to your supervisor with the highlights of the report you will be presenting on Thursday.
Influence. Your CFO writes a letter to the editor of a national newspaper arguing that Congress should extend a tax credit for investments in solar energy.
Innovate. You send a memo to your boss about your idea for an innovation that will reduce the company’s manufacturing costs.
Market or sell. You assist the company’s sales team in preparing an estimate of the costs of a new sales initiative.
Motivate. Your supervisor tells people in your department they will receive a bonus this year if they meet certain performance goals.
Negotiate. You assist a purchasing manager in negotiating a contract with a vendor to upgrade the company’s information storage system.
Offer suggestions. As the CFO, you send a memo to employees suggesting they volunteer for a community service programme of their choice. The company will give employees two hours of paid time off a month for volunteer work.
Persuade. You convince your supervisor of the need for your department to hire another accountant. Your supervisor persuades the CFO to approve the hiring.
Problem-solving. You join a team that is asked to help the company determine the causes of cost increases in a manufacturing process and how to eliminate them.
Provide solutions. You assist the CFO with a report on how to increase the company’s cash flow.
Recruit. Your supervisor asks you to assist a company recruiter in writing a job description for the accountant that will be hired.
Report. At your supervisor’s request, you draft a report to the human resources director with some suggestions for revising the company’s employee compensation system.
Request. A colleague asks you for assistance in preparing a presentation.
Subject
What are you writing about? What is the general subject of your report or other communication? Management accountants are not just working in accounting anymore. They are working more frequently in other capacities throughout organisations, so you could find yourself writing about any subject from question 2 in box 5-1.
Say you are assisting a business line manager in managing an operating unit. The CFO has asked the manager to prepare a report on how the unit can expand into new international markets. It’s a complicated strategic question, and the manager asks for your help with a piece of it. You must prepare a report on the estimated costs of going into a specific market. Next week, you could be asked to write about another business question or issue.
What this scenario suggests is that you should learn as much as you can about every aspect of a company’s business. What are the company’s most important strategic issues? What are its concerns in managing its people? Being well informed about a company will help you when deciding on the key messages in your communication.
Audience
The answers to question 3 in box 5-1 shows there are many possible audiences for your business communication. By deciding on the audience for your report or other communication, you can tailor your message accordingly. One way to think of your audience is as valued customers of your company. The book Business Communications indicates, ‘Just as a company won’t connect with its customers if it fails to understand them, their needs, and how they prefer to be served, you won’t connect with your readers if you don’t understand them, their needs, and how they prefer to receive information.’2
Imagine you are an account manager who is preparing a forecast of a company’s cash flow for the next three months and an analysis of whether it will be sufficient to cover that company’s various costs. Your audience, in this case, is the company’s controller, who will use your report to prepare a cash management report and working capital analysis for the CFO. Or, say you’re an accounting supervisor, and as part of your responsibilities, you supervise and train staff accountants in various company accounting policies and procedures. You write a checklist for staffers to use as a guide for following those procedures. It’s a simple tool to help them do their work efficiently.
As these hypothetical scenarios demonstrate, your audience may determine the form of communication you need to write (see question 7 in box 5-1). The characteristics of that audience may also affect how you write your communication. The following list will help guide you in considering how best to reach your target audience.
What do you need to know about your audience to communicate effectively? First of all, you should understand your relationship with the audience and, conversely, the audience’s relationship with you. Are you writing to someone you know well, such as a colleague in your department or your supervisor? Are you writing to a senior person in the organisation whom you do not know well? Or, are you writing to members of your team, some of whom you know better than others? The better you know your audience, the more likely you are to know how to best communicate with them.
Whether the people who constitute your audience are interested in what you write depends partly on how they perceive you. They may pay close attention to your writing because you are a recognised expert on the topic of your communication. They may not know you, and you have to capture their attention by writing an informed, thoughtful communication. Some people in your audience may be more important to you than others.
You should also think about who your primary and secondary audiences are. If you are writing to different people in your company, including the CEO, CFO or others in senior management, they would be the primary audience because of their power and authority. If you are submitting a business proposal to a customer or client, with copies to the CEO or CFO, the customer is the primary audience. If you are writing a letter to a consultant who is an expert on cloud storage systems to ask about a system for your company, with copies to the CFO or others, the consultant is the primary audience.
When considering who constitutes your primary and secondary audiences, especially if you do not know them well, take into account the background and knowledge they have. What is the professional background of your audience? Educational level? Position in your company? Beliefs, attitudes and biases? Assume you’re an account manager who is writing a letter to your supervisor proposing that the company adopt a policy for the use of social media as a means of communication inside and outside the organisation. Despite your strong feelings about the value of social media, your memo lays out arguments both for and against the company’s adopting such a policy. You conclude with your arguments about why the advantages outweigh any disadvantages. This will help your supervisor to consider both sides of the issue, as well as demonstrate that you can take a balanced approach in writing about an issue.
But what if you are writing to complete strangers? Suppose the editor of a prominent trade publication or professional journal has asked you to write an article. You can learn about your audience by asking the editor for background on the publication’s readership, reading the publication’s guide for submission of articles, reading past issues of the publication to see what interests readers and reading comments from readers on the publication’s website.
Your audience’s familiarity with the subject matter you are presenting will also affect how you communicate with them. If you are explaining what a new accounting rule means to an audience of people who are not accountants, you must write in a language they can understand. That does not mean you must dumb down your communication, but you must explain why your audience should care. For example, discuss the ruling’s effect on the company’s financial reporting, capital structure or operations.
Then again, your audience may have some knowledge of your topic. Perhaps you work for a global company whose executives are familiar with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). If you are asked to write a report to senior management about some aspect of IFRS, you can do so without having to provide a lot of background information on IFRS, its purpose, how it differs from accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, and so on.
But suppose senior management wants to distribute your report to mangers and others in the company who may not be as knowledgeable about IFRS. For the benefit of this audience, you might write a brief article that provides background on IFRS. It can be included with, but distinguished from, the main article. Readers can decide whether to read this sidebar article.
The following are some other audience characteristics you will want to consider:
Management styles. How managers and supervisors respond to what you’ve written depends partly on their management style. Some managers and supervisors want to know the essence of what you’re writing about, and no more. For this audience, you might write a short article that highlights your key messages. Other managers may want you to go into great detail. For those managers, you could write an article that expands upon your key messages. If you are writing to managers who have different styles, you might write a short summary and then go into the details. The important thing is to be attuned to how your audiences want to receive information.
Cultural differences. If you are writing for an international audience, there are cultural differences to consider. This might be the case if you are working for a global corporation or for a small business, such as an import-export firm that has international clients. In writing, you must be sensitive to language that might be acceptable in your culture but considered impolite or offensive in others. Avoid the use of idioms, jargon or other expressions that might not be understood by readers who are not fully conversant in English, and use a tone that shows a sensitivity to the views, perceptions and feelings of people of other cultures. If you are with a global organisation, you might ask people working in other countries to review and comment upon what you’ve written before it is sent to your audience. Or, you might consult with people in your organisation who are experienced in writing for a global audience. Faculty at colleges and universities, members of international professional and trade organisations, staff members of research institutions and employees of government agencies dealing with international business might also be of assistance.
Anticipated audience reaction. Will readers be receptive, indifferent, or resistant? If you are suggesting ways the company might reduce its costs or increase its cash flow, readers might be interested. If you are writing about a new accounting rule, your audience might not be interested unless you clearly explain how it affects them. If you are sending a memo to a line manager about the unit’s cost increase, the manager might not be happy to learn about the problem, but if you suggest steps to bring costs under control, the manager might welcome your ideas. The key is to show your readers how they can benefit from the information you’ve provided.
What you want to accomplish. For you to accomplish your goal in writing, you need the commitment of your readers. ‘When you start a letter or e-mail message, you are starting a relationship; you will need cooperation and agreement from the reader for the relationships to work,’ writes Deborah Dumaine in Write to the Top.’3 ‘It’s best to begin by knowing what you want and by understanding what the other person expects.’
Delivery
Consider how, and by whom, your communication will be delivered. Questions 5, 6 and 7 in box 4-1 ask about authorship, timing and the form of your message.
Whether or not you do the actual writing, a key consideration is who is the right person to communicate the message? That depends partly on who will receive the message and the message itself. If a division president has put together a proposal for an acquisition and reviewed it with the CFO, the division president may be the best qualified to submit the proposal to the CEO. If the CFO has a plan to reduce the company’s operating costs by 5%, the CFO may be the right person to communicate this to the CEO.
Another key consideration as you prepare to write is timing. When is the right time to deliver the message? If the company has just announced a major cost-cutting drive, this might not be the time to propose an acquisition. If the company’s profits are growing at a rate of 15% and the company is flush with cash, senior management might be more receptive to your proposal.
Finally, what form your communication takes will steer you toward making many other decisions. How will you deliver your message? In an e-mail? In a letter sent by mail? In a report that you personally deliver to the CFO? Will you write a note and slip it under the CFO’s office door?
When considering the right form or channel of communication, you should always start with the audience. Suppose you’ve written a memo to a business line manager in your company. Would the manager prefer to receive a printed memo or an electronic version? One benefit of a printed memo is that you can control the distribution: You personally give it to the manager. The manager may prefer to read it first and then decide whether to share it with others. With e-mail, there is always the risk that, for whatever reason, your memo could go to someone who shouldn’t have seen it. But you may have to use e-mail if you need to quickly send the memo to people who work all over the world for your company. Also, e-mail enables recipients to respond quickly. Sometimes, you will communicate not just by writing but also by speaking, such as by making a presentation. Regardless of your platform, you would go through the same list of questions. Presentations are discussed in chapters 7 and 8.
THE WRITE MINDSET
Once you’ve decided on your purpose for writing, your subject, your audience and so on, you can begin the writing process—not by plunging into writing, but by planning first and then writing. As you outline and gather information, keep in mind a few of the ‘Cs’ of effective communication: clarity, consistency, conciseness and coherence. For the rest of this chapter, we will assume that you are writing a business report, although the same advice can be applied to any communication.
First, let’s discuss clarity. In your report, there is probably a sentence or two, or perhaps a paragraph, that clearly states what the report is about. It is the message upon which the report is built. It may be the first paragraph of a report or the paragraph following an introduction. But it is there. So, whether you are writing a two-paragraph e-mail or a five-page report, your writing must have a message. Longer reports may begin with an executive summary, but the report itself should have that message.
Consistency is directly tied to clarity. Once you have stated your message, develop it and stay on message. If you lose focus, your writing could go off in different directions and turn into nothing more than a collection of notes.
According to The Elements of Style, ‘Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.’4 In your writing, use the fewest words necessary to communicate. If you write a 500-word report, see if you can pare it to 400 words without losing the meaning.
For Amy Weinreich, CPA, clarity and conciseness means a single page. She is vice president, Finance and Administration, at Publishers Fulfillment Inc. She says the company’s written communications are more concise than when she joined five years ago. ‘For example, if I prepare a report for our senior executives, I summarise everything on one page, with just enough detail that they can make a decision. If they need more details, I can provide them with specifics.’ (See interview 11 with Weinreich in appendix A.)
Finally, your report should be a coherent whole. It should be well-organised and have a logical structure. It starts at point A, continues through points B, C, D and E, and concludes with point F. Within each section of the report, you may choose to use different methods of organising your information. You may use a deductive method in one section, starting with the most important paragraph and continuing to the least important, and, in another section, the general to the specifics method, starting with a general statement and supporting it with specifics. Regardless of what form you use, there should be logic to your structure, so that your reader can easily glean your message.
Outlining is one of the best ways to build a coherent structure in your report. You probably learned how to outline in school, but it may have been many years since you have created a traditional outline. Read the next section for a refresher on outlining and other alternatives for giving your communications structure.
TRADITIONAL OUTLINING
One way to start the planning and writing process is by creating an outline. An outline can take different forms, but the important thing is to organise your thoughts. Once you begin writing, you may decide to reorganise your outline or add information, and you can update your outline accordingly. Keeping your outline current will help you to stay focused on your writing goal.
The traditional outline uses Roman and Arabic numerals and letters. It could be a short outline for documents such as e-mails, letters or memos, or a longer outline for documents such as reports or presentations. The short outline might simply list a few key topics; the long outline might list more topics and expand upon each one. If you and only a few others (such as members of your team) will see the outline, it could be informal, such as a bullet point list of the key ideas or issues. If you plan to circulate the outline to a wider audience, including senior management, you might use a formal outline of numbers and letters.
This is a short outline of a portion of chapter 1 of this book:
The changing role of the CFO
CFO responsibilities
Specific communication challenges CFOs face
Here is a longer outline of chapter 1:
The changing role of the CFO
Management accountants traditionally at periphery
Broad skills required
CFO responsibilities
Finding insights in data
Budgeting
Measuring value
Managing risk
Specific communication challenges CFOs face
Explaining complex issues
Communicating with investors
Here is a longer, even more detailed outline of chapter 1:
The changing role of the CFO
Management accountants traditionally at periphery
Typical CFO was a ‘bean counter’
CFOs stayed in their own departments
Broad skills required
CFOs provide analysis to help others make decisions
More influence
Communication skills are essential
CFO responsibilities
Finding insights in data
Help others make informed decisions
Budgeting
Many companies dissatisfied with traditional budgeting
Alternative methods include rolling forecasts and others
Measuring value
How can value be measured?
CFOs are called upon to measure the value of human resources and talent
Managing risk
CFOs measure risk in areas outside of finance
Broad accountability leads to a balancing act
Specific communication challenges CFOs face
Explaining complex issues
Variety of audiences
Different audiences have different goals
Management accountants ensure business is performing as expected
Communicating with investors
Investors want more narrative reporting
Rapid-growth markets present a challenge
The long outline is particularly useful for projects such as reports or presentations that cover a number of topics and issues. You can use the long outline to prioritise information, determine if there are any information gaps and decide whether more information is needed or some pieces of existing information could be shortened, revised or consolidated.
If you were preparing a presentation, you could note in the outline where visuals would be presented and include a brief description of each visual or the visual itself. (Presentations are discussed in chapters 7 and 8.)
ALTERNATIVES TO TRADITIONAL OUTLINING
Traditional Roman numeral outlines may not suit your mood or purpose, but there are many alternative ways to outline. Maybe you’re spontaneous and want to write down whatever comes to mind. Maybe teachers forced you to write too many traditional outlines in school. Maybe your thoughts aren’t organised enough yet. There are other choices.
Brainstorm Outline (Brainstorming)
Brainstorming is one way to begin the outlining process. Write down whatever comes to mind—about anything. As you write, you’ll start to get the core ideas for your report, and you can forget about the other ideas. You can do this by yourself or with a team or other group. Brainstorming is especially useful for teams. The rapid-fire, back-and-forth dynamic of brainstorming helps in developing ideas for a report, including some that may not occur to individual team members if they had been working alone. Everyone has a chance to propose ideas and comment.
Whether alone or with a team, once you’ve finished brainstorming, you can organise related ideas into groups and discard those that are not relevant. You now have an outline to use in drafting your report or other communication.
Mind Mapping
Another approach to outlining is mind mapping. Write the central topic of your report in the middle of a sheet of paper or whiteboard. When an idea related to the central topic occurs to you, write it down. It becomes a subtopic. Draw a line from the central topic to the subtopic. Repeat this process with other subtopics. If you have ideas related to a subtopic, write them down and draw a line from the subtopic to these related topics. Repeat the process with other subtopics and so on. You now have a mind map you can use to help you draft your report.
Figure 5-1 is an example of a mind map outline using some of the elements of the traditional outline of chapter 1.
Questioning
Look at your report not just from your perspective but also from that of your readers. Imagine you are sitting in a room, facing an inquirer across a table. You’re sweating under a hot light. The inquirer, concealed in the shadows, begins to interrogate you: ‘What’s your reason for writing this?’ Followed by, ‘Why should I care?’
The inquirer, representing your readers, asks you questions they might ask. Through this imagined question and answer process, you can determine what questions to address in your report, and you answers will provide a framework for writing. A team could use the same process for writing a report. For help, you might reach out to your colleagues, supervisor or others in your organisation. Tell them the concept or purpose of your report, and ask them what questions they have. They might think of a question or two that didn’t occur to you.
Free Writing
What if you’re trying to think of ideas for your report and you’re drawing a blank? Are you so overwhelmed by the task of writing that you don’t even know where to begin? This paralysing feeling is often called writer’s block. So how do you get from idling on the block to producing ideas? You write your way out.
Free writing is a technique designed to help you overcome writer’s block or self-criticism. Find a timer and commit yourself to writing nonstop for at least ten minutes. Write about anything that comes to mind, regardless of whether it’s relevant to your topic. Don’t stop to edit or revise. When the timer goes off, you’re finished. Stop and look at what you’ve written. In the torrent of words, you may find ideas for your report. These ideas may lead you to think of other ideas. And then you can begin to organise them in an outline using one of the other techniques discussed previously.
Other ideas may come to you when you’re away from writing, so you might jot them in a notebook or use your smartphone or tablet to write them down or record them. Speaking of recording, you could try free speaking as an alternative or supplement to free writing. Start talking and record anything that comes to mind for ten minutes or whatever time you set. Listen to the recording to see what ideas you might use for your report.
CONTEXT
Once you have an outline and a clear direction, there still may be some additional work you need to do. To capture the attention of your readers, your report must offer new information, insights and analysis, but ‘new’ compared to what? You need to provide context for your report—the background, framework or circumstances. In some instances, you may be familiar enough with the topic to provide context without doing any additional research. In other cases, you may need to do extensive research before you are able to begin writing your report.
Let’s look at an example of how to provide context for a report. The first three paragraphs of the following quote provide context—the first two with an anecdote, and the third with the big picture: unemployment in the eurozone and the United States.
For the past six years, VASCO Data Security has dealt with a chronic problem: It hasn’t been able to easily recruit qualified workers for its software and internet security operations in Europe. And the plight hasn’t gotten easier—even as a global economic crisis has led to high unemployment throughout the continent.
‘It seems like in Brussels and in Zurich, both, we have a hard time when a spot opens up, filling it,’ VASCO CFO Gary Robisch said. ‘A lot of times we have to settle for somebody that doesn’t exactly match the qualifications that we want.’
The economics don’t seem to make sense. High unemployment, one would presume, would make it easier to fill jobs. The 17-country euro currency bloc hit a record in May when unemployment rose to 11.1%, while the rate across the EU was 10.1%, according to Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office. US unemployment has hovered between 8.1% and 8.3% for the past six months.
Yet employers worldwide are still struggling to find workers with the skills to fill a wide variety of jobs. The situation is fuelling a human resources conundrum as employers ponder whether they should hold out and pony up for candidates with key skills or look to on-the-job training for promising candidates.5
If the article had simply been about high unemployment, it would have added nothing to what readers already know, except maybe to provide some statistics. But it goes on to dispel the notion that because of high unemployment, employers can easily find skilled workers. So, consider the context. This will help you to narrow the focus of your report and decide on your key message.
RESEARCH
To write a report and provide context, you must be informed about the topic. Even if you are an expert on the topic, you must keep abreast of new issues, developments and trends in your area of expertise. That will require research. You probably already have some experience with research from when you were in school or from earlier work in your company, and you can draw on that experience in doing your current research.
As with the rest of the writing process, focus on your key message—your theme—when researching. Otherwise, you could waste time stumbling across and fixating on fascinating but irrelevant bits of information, such as the Aldabra giant tortoise being one of the longest living animals.
You also may come across articles or images that will save you time and effort by already encapsulating the message you want to convey to your readers. Be careful to get permissions and properly cite the source of any previously published information. Just because something is posted on the Internet does not mean you have permission to use it.
The following are some good places to start your research:
Within your company. Try starting with your own company. See what you can learn from company reports, articles, white papers, webcasts, the company library (if your company has one), and other sources of information, as well as talking to people in your company.
Outside your company. See what has been written about your topic in books, newspapers, trade publications, professional journals and other print and online publications, or on webcasts, podcasts, online videos, online discussion groups and other sources.
Interviews. Interview people inside and outside of your organisation who have the knowledge and experience to discuss your topic. They can speak from experience, provide insights and offer suggestions to readers. They might also be able to provide sound bites or quotes that you can use in your report to bolster your arguments.
Survey. Another approach is to conduct a survey of knowledgeable people. The survey could be the basis for your report.
Of course, not every communication you write will require extensive research, but it may require at least some research. As you become more experienced in researching, you’ll become more efficient, doing just what research is necessary and no more.
With your thoughts recorded, organised into an outline and supported by research, you are now ready to begin writing. The next chapter will discuss techniques you can use to write an outstanding report.
CHAPTER SUMMARY
Using a standard list of questions concerning your audience, theme, subject and so on can help you to take a consistent approach.
Always write your report with a specific audience in mind. What do readers expect from your report?
Be clear about your purpose. What do you want to accomplish in writing the report?
Your report starts with planning. Outline, provide context and do research in preparation for the actual writing process.
Endnotes
1 William Zinsser, On Writing Well: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction, Fourth edition, (New York: Harper Perennial, 1999).
2 Business Communication, Harvard Business Essentials, (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2003).
3 Deborah Dumaine, Write to the Top: Writing for Corporate Success, (New York: Random House Trade Paperback, 2003).
4 William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White, The Elements of Style, Fourth edition, (White Plains, NY: Longman, 2000).
5 Ken Tysiac, ‘Execs Battle Skills Gap in Hiring Despite High Unemployment,’ CGMA Magazine, Jul. 2012 www.cgma.org/magazine/news/pages/20125850.aspx