Word crunching: a primer for accountants.

WORD CRUNCHING: A PRIMER FOR ACCOUNTANTS

The keys are to keep your communications simple, concise and specific.

Any accountant who's been in the profession for long knows crunching numbers is only half the battle. The other half is explaining what it all means: the laws, the logic, the implications between the lines. Accounting calls for a lot of communication; if it isn't clear, the numbers mean nothing.

Worse yet, wrong words can lead to wrong numbers.

For some accountants, writing the simplest message is a nightmare of sweat and consternation. It needn't be so. With a few rules and some general guidance, you can transform ideas and concepts into effective words. It's worth learning to do, because it's as much a part of accounting as the numbers in a financial statement.

KEEP IT SIMPLE!

If there's one overriding rule, it's to keep your language simple. Use simple words, simple sentences, simple logic. Don't get fancy. Don't show off. Don't assume your reader knows as much about accounting as you do. The convoluted sentences of 19th century literature are as dead as Dickens, and the highfalutin language of academia belongs in dissertations, not in memos, reports and letters.

So there's one thing you don't have to worry about. You don't have to strive to sound impressive. You can write it the way you'd like to read it if you were overworked, in a hurry and distracted--a common state of mind in today's business world. No one wants to read a sentence like Preestablished government regulatory restrictions preclude any and all possibility of our involvement in the financial reporting practices alluded to in the aforementioned correspondence directed to my attention. You could say most of that with something as simple as Legally, we can't help you. If you must include the other details, serve them in bite-size pieces--short words, short sentences.

After you've written your first draft, go back and see how many words you can cut out. Why say Within a period of three weeks when In three weeks will do? Why say I'd like to thank you in advance for your cooperation and prompt attention to this matter when Thank you will do? What's the difference between At the present time and Now? About three ounces of ugly fat. When you get rid of all the excess verbiage, what's left is a tight, trim memo that gets the job done. (For a "before and after" example, see the BAD AND GOOD WRITING: A COMPARISON.

BE SPECIFIC

While the goal is brevity, be careful to delete only unnecessary information. The essential facts must remain. Business doesn't move unless it's clear who is to do what by when. Appropriate data should be provided probably won't provide much data quickly because it's ambiguous. What data? Who should provide it? The personnel manager should give the accountant estimated training costs by the end of each month, however, specifies what has to be done, who will do it and when it's due.

One problem with the first, ambiguous statement is the passive verb be provided. The passive voice (is recommended, will be filed, were summarized, should be reported, etc.) indicates an action without an agent. Who recommends? Who will file? Who summarized? Who should report?

The passive voice sneaks into sentences when (a) you don't know who does the action or (b) you don't want to admit who does it or (c) you're afraid to tell someone to do it. The problem with all three situations is the same. It isn't clear who will act. Note the difference between these phrases:

* It is recognized that . . . * The IRS recognizes . . . * The check must be signed. * The controller must sign the check. * The problem will be solved. * My secretary will solve the problem.

The passive voice isn't always bad. You can use it to make an accusation less pointed (The copier should not be used for . . .), to avoid responsibility (It has been decided that . . .) and to avoid implying personal relationships (It is felt that employees should . . .). If you use the passive with such purpose, fine. If you find yourself using it without good reason, however, stop and ask why. Then, specify a subject for the verb and rewrite.

After you've changed Profits were affected to Price fluctuations affected profits, look for other ways to make the vague more specific. Changing affected to reduced tells the reader a lot more. Or you may want to spend a few more words to write An overall price increase of 12% led to a drop in sales and a 6% decline in profits. A sentence like this, packed with data, is worth writing--and reading.

Watch out for ambiguous pronouns. Murphy's Law says if something can be misunderstood, it will be. Subtract the fiscal year revenue from the previous year revenues before analyzing them can leave someone confused or, worse, working on the wrong number. What does "them" refer to? In We evaluated the entire investment process, which took two weeks, we don't know if the evaluation or the process took two weeks. Assume your reader will misunderstand. Write accordingly.

Also watch out for sentences like this: Subtracting line 5 from line 6, our subtotal was under $10,000. Who subtracted? It sounds like the subtotal did. English teachers call this a dangling modifier. Here's a variation of the same problem: The subject of the meeting is The Power of the IRS in the conference room at 3:00. If you catch the possible way the reader might read it wrong, you can see how it's written wrong. So write it right.

And speaking of reading, the best way to judge your work and seek out errors is to read it out loud. If a sentence sounds peculiar at first reading, don't reread to make it sound right. Rewrite it. If you can't figure out the problem or a way to correct it, usually the best approach is to make two sentences out of it.

CHOOSING YOUR WORDS

Different audiences expect different tones of writing. The wrong tone can send the wrong message, regardless of the meaning of the words. A letter to a longtime client can and should be warm, personal, even humorous. A memo detailing internal control procedures needs to reflect cold logic and staid seriousness. A touch of warmth or informality might help, but be judicious.

You can evaluate your own tone by taking each word out of context and analyzing it. Look for charged words that carry a negative or positive aura. Waste, spend and invest are negative, neutral and positive, respectively, even though they all mean an outward flow of funds. Abuse is more specific, but also more negative than use. Obviously and of course are condescending. Didn't doesn't sting as much as failed to. Which word should you use? It depends on the tone you want to convey.

They say you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. The principle applies to business, where you can get more done with positive statements than with negative ones. Notice the difference between these pairs of statements:

* You neglected the fact that . . . * One additional fact is that . . . * You missed the point . . . * From another perspective . . . * Unfortunately, we have no choice but

to . . . * Fortunately, we have one possibility . . .

The positive statement is more likely to motivate the reader. The negative version will probably aggravate the situation.

As long as you're watching your words, watch your jargon. It's like wearing a tuxedo. In certain situations, nothing else will do. In others, it's most inappropriate. Use technical jargon with colleagues and those who really know accounting, but only if a term is well defined in the accounting profession. With clients, stick to plain English. And, of course, the same principle applies to slang. If the word isn't in the dictionary, don't use it.

Also avoid cliches. They usually don't say what you mean and they use too many words. Few and far between reduces nicely to rare. You can say Put it to the acid test with just Test it.

The same goes for trendy business expressions like As per your request, please be advised that I have enclosed herewith and As per our agreement. These fancy phrases may sound the way some people think business correspondence should sound, but they bury the important facts in needless wordage. Here's the report you asked for sounds a lot nicer than any of that puffed-up "business language."

You also have to watch out for accidental sexism--those phrases that imply a male where a female might be. When a client requests information, he has the right to receive his file is such a case. You could cover yourself with he or she, but often there are less awkward ways. If you can, make the subject (client) plural so the he becomes they and the his becomes their. The result: When clients request information, they have . . .

When you come up against a word like mailman, manpower or businessman, you can usually find a synonym (such as mail carrier, labor and businessperson).

USE STEP-BY-STEP LOGIC

If a reader spent as much time reading as the writer spent writing a sentence, it could carry a lot more conceptual baggage. But readers tend to move fast across the page. If the information is too dense--government reports and software manuals are famous for this--readers gobble up the words faster than their brains can digest the concepts. Halfway through a paragraph, mental indigestion sets in. The reader stops reading or stops understanding. Either way, your words are wasted or, worse, serve only to put the reader in a foul mood.

To avoid losing your reader, dish out your ideas bit by bit. Start at the beginning and move forward one step at a time. The reader won't mind if some steps seem elementary, especially if the overall concept is not. You can clarify your logical progression by keeping each step separate. Discuss just one point in each paragraph. Number or letter each step. Indent certain batches of information. Use subheads, bold print and "bullets." These nonverbal clues also help the reader go back to find specific information.

To deliver information methodically, you'd better plan what you're going to write. Whether you're writing for the CPA exam or just dictating a short memo, take a few minutes to break up an idea into simple segments. Then put them into a logical sequence.

What's a logical sequence? It depends on the situation. If you're explaining a tax law, you might establish four categories of information: the purpose of the law, the expectations of the law, how the law affects the client and what the client should do about it. If you're explaining to a client how you intend to handle his accounting, an annual chronology may be the most logical sequence. If you're predicting the result of a long-term investment, cause and effect would be a logical tool. You might use it backwards, tracing the causes of effects, to diagnose a problem.

You can use variations of a general outline for many different writing projects:

1. State the general idea or reason for writing.

2. Break the idea or reason into small, easily grasped units.

3. Present the units one at a time, supporting each with evidence, benefits, reasons or whatever else is appropriate.

4. State a conclusion for each unit.

5. After explaining each unit, summarize the units and conclusions, listing main points if necessary.

6. Specify who is to take what action by when.

If you understand the principle of this outline, you can apply a variation to just about anything, from a short memo to a long book.

Many professional writers, knowing how much can go wrong with words, dawdle in the planning stage. But they also know this is the best way to put off writing something. The hardest part of writing isn't the stringing together of words but rather the development and deployment of ideas. If you devote enough time to thinking and planning, the actual writing comes more easily and with much better results.

That, in short, is how you use words to make numbers--or anything else--mean something to somebody. And that is what accounting (and life) is all about.

BAD AND GOOD WRITING: A COMPARISON

TO: S. Miller FROM: G. Cheney DATE: March 15, 1990 RE: Billing questions

With reference to your letter of March 8, 1990, please find enclosed herewith an annotated summarized breakdown of work performed for your company during the fourth quarter of last year. With regard to the billing discrepancies which you mentioned in your letter, I would like to remind you that not only have the parameters of our projects expanded beyond what we planned in advance, but also it was recently necessary for us to effect an increase in the hourly rates our firm must charge its clients in view of the fact that our operational costs have also increased due to inflation. Obviously, due to this fact, your total quarterly billings were increased substantially over previous totals.

Hopefully the above explanation and attached summary will resolve some of your questions. If your accountant desires more additional information, he should not hesitate to contact me. Thank you for your cooperation.

TO: S. Miller FROM: G. Cheney DATE: March 15, 1990 RE: Billing questions

I can see why you were surprised at our billings for the fourth quarter of last year. Two factors led to the increase.

1. On September 1, our rates increased

12% to $80/hour. 2. Three unforeseen projects increased

the number of hours billed.

a. We spent an extra 15 hours

working on four additional tax

returns.

b. We met with the IRS for 5 hours

to discuss last year's

depreciation estimates.

c. We began preparing monthly

rather than quarterly financial

statements.

The attached annotated summary details the work involved in these projects. If your accountant has any questions, I'm ready to help.

GLENN ALAN CHENEY is a professor of business writing at Fairfield University, Fairfield, Connecticut. He is the author of nine books.