Painting with Numbers

Learn how to communicate better with numbers Whether you are distributing a report or giving a presentation, you have a lot of numbers to present and only a few minutes to get your point across. Your audience is busy and has a short attention span. Don't let an amateur presentation bog you down, confuse your audience, and damage your credibility. Instead, learn how to present numerical information effectively—in the same way you learned how to speak or write. With Painting with Numbers, you'll discover how to present numbers clearly and effectively so your ideas and your presentation shine. Use the Arabic numeral system to your advantage master the use of layout and visual effects to communicate powerfully Understand how audiences process your information and how that affects your "personal brand image" Learn how to be perceived as a professional who truly understands the business concepts and issues underlying your numbers Use software tools, including Excel, PowerPoint, and graphs, efficiently and to drive home your point Author Randall Bolten shares his decades of experience as a senior finance executive distilling complicated information into clear presentations, to help you make your numerical information more comprehensible, meaningful, and accessible. Painting with Numbers is brimming with hands-on advice, techniques, tools, rules, and guidelines for producing clear, attractive, and effective quantation (the word the author has coined for the skill of presenting numbers).

Foreword xiii Preface xv Acknowledgments xvii introdUCtion This book Is Not About Numbers—Honest! 1 Being “Literate” 2 It’s What They Think That Matters 2 What You Were Never Taught 3 The Ultimate Goal 5 Some Notes about Reading This Book 5 Part I the rules 11 Chapter 1 Numerals Matter 13 Lining Up the Numbers 14 The Units of Measure 16 Precision 17 Negative Numbers: What Do They Mean? 20 Chapter 2 Looks Matter 25 The Tabula Rasa Decision 26 The “Where’s Waldo?” Effect 27 White Space Is Your Friend 29 But White Space Is Not Always Your Friend 30 Time and Other Dimensions: Across or Down? 33 Borders, Shading, and Other Visual Effects 35 Comments and Artwork 41 The “Ransom Note” Effect 43 Two Truly Helpful Hints 44 Chapter 3 Words Matter 47 Mean What You Say and Say What You Mean 48 Choosing between Precision and Presentability 52 Treating Words Like Numbers  55 Remember the Title. Please 57 Chapter 4 Your Audience Matters   61 The Right Amount of Data   62 Appropriate Emphasis on Critical Information 64 Consistency  67 Meaningful and Relevant Numbers  69 Respect for Your Audience’s Time  73 Wrap-Up for Part I: The Rules  77 Part II The Tools 81 Chapter 5 You Can Pay Me Now   83 The Instant Payoff Tips  85 Instant Payoff Tip #1: Set Up Templates and Styles  85 Instant Payoff Tip #2: Customize Your Toolbar  86 Instant Payoff Tip #3: Learn Some Shortcut Keys  87 Instant Payoff Tip #4: Use Consistent Formats  89 Instant Payoff Tip #5: Learn to Use Excel as a Database  90 Instant Payoff Tip #6: Learn to Use the Lookup & Reference Functions  94 Instant Payoff Tip #7: Organize Data for Easy Computation  95 Instant Payoff Tip #8: Learn to Use Automated Help  98 Instant Payoff Tip #9: Don’t Learn Too Many Ways to Do the Same Thing  99 Chapter 6 . . . Or Pay Me Later 103 The Long-Term Payoff Tips  104 Long-Term Payoff Tip #1: Use Sensible, Intelligent Filenames and Folder Organization  104 Long-Term Payoff Tip #2: Use Consistent Formats 106 Long-Term Payoff Tip #3: Design Intelligent, Intelligible Formulas  106 Long-Term Payoff Tip #4: Use Named Ranges  110 Long-Term Payoff Tip #5: Use Named Formulas or Macros 112 Long-Term Payoff Tip #6: Links: A Force That Can Be Used for Good or Evil  117 Long-Term Payoff Tip #7: Make Different Types of Cells Visually Distinguishable and Physically Separate  118 Long-Term Payoff Tip #8: Document Your Work!  120 Long-Term Payoff Tip #9: Check Your Work!  121 Long-Term Payoff Tip #10: Avoid Cool New Features  122 Chapter 7 Graphs: The “Cartoons” of Numbers   125 Why Do People Use Graphs?  126 Help Your Audience 127 First, Do No Harm 138 Chapter 8 The Pitfalls of Presentations and PowerPoint  153Why Do People Make Fun of Business Presentations?  154 Real Estate Is a Scarce and Precious Commodity  154 Help Your Audience  156 First, Do No Harm  161 Some Basic Truths That Go Double for Quantation  162 Wrap-Up for Part II: The Tools  166 Part III Real Mastery   169 Chapter 9 It’s Clear, but Is It Meaningful?   171 The War of the Adjectives  171 A Quantation Professional  173 Relating to Your Audience in a Constructive Way  174 Chapter 10 53 . . . Uh, Is That a Lot?   179 What Is a Key Indicator?  180 What Makes a Good Key Indicator?   183 A Simple Example  185 How Do You Present Key Indicators Effectively?  185 A Note on Precision  190 A Note on Dashboards  191 Chapter 11 The One Report Every Organization Needs   197 A Sample Natural P&L, and What Makes It a Good One  199 1. One Page!  200 2. Decision-Focused Line Items  200 3. Appropriate Dollar Amounts, neither Too Big nor Too Small  204 4. Intuitive Organization of the Line Items 205 5. Understandable Categories, Meaningful to All Users  208 6. Plain-English Terminology  208 7. Consistent Look-and-Feel  209 8. Key Results Equal to the Corresponding Numbers in the Accounting System (or an Explanation Why Not)  209 Mapping the Chart of Accounts  211 Generate a Natural P&L from a Spreadsheet, or from the Accounting System? 212 Now Let’s Talk about the Columns  213 Appendix 11A a Sermon to the Accounting Purists   219 Chapter 12 The Gaps in GAAP   225 Rules-Based versus Principles-Based  226 Where Is All This Headed?  227 “Expensing” Stock Options  228 Software Revenue Recognition  230 Tying GAAP to Internal Management Reports 232 Appendix 12A Some Notes on GAAP   235 What Is GAAP?  235 Stock Options  236 Revenue Recognition  237 Chapter 13 Quantation: It’s Not Just for Business Anymore   239 One Taxpayer at a Time  240 All the Taxpayers at Once  243 What’s Really Going on Here?   249 Chapter 14 Quantation in Ordinary Life   255 Models  255 The Meaning of Words  260 That Quiz I Promised  263 Part IV Wrap-Up   269 Chapter 15 Speaking Truth to Power   271 My “Tell the Truth” Syllogism  272 Reason #1 for Telling the Truth: It’s the Right Thing to Do  272 Reason #2: It’s in Your Employer’s Interest  272 Reason #3: It’s in Your Interest   273 Reason #4: You Will Get Caught  273 Reason #5: It’s the “Gotcha” of This Book  275 Don’t Be So Smug, You Civil Servants and Elected Officials!  276 Your Audience Has a Role, Too  276 Chapter 16 Now, What’s the First Thing You Do?   281 My Last, Best Tip  282 It’s Just a Skill  282 Where We Have Been  283 Appendix Jazz Meets Theology   287 Revisitation  288 The Sins of Presentation  289 The Sins of Behavior 297 The Deadliest Sin of All 301 About the Author 305 Index   307