Painting with Numbers Presenting Financials and Other Numbers So People Will Understand You

by Bolten, Randall; Campbell, Tom

• ISBN13: 9781118172575
• ISBN10: 1118172574
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-04-03
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

Painting with Numbers is a thoughtful, yet practical and readable, guide to presenting numerical information effectively. The chapters are divided into two sections: "Technique" - focuses on how readers and listeners perceive numbers and what they look for in reports, describes how reports should be laid out and organized, and provides tips on how to take advantage of the available tools - principally Microsoft Excel - to minimize time spent "beautifying" reports. "Content" - provides thoughts and guidelines on specific types of reports. One chapter alone is devoted to the "Natural P&L", the statement that is the cornerstone of management financial reporting. Other chapters discuss other reports common to businesses, reports relevant to other walks of our lives, and information that especially lends itself to presentation in graphs rather than tables.

Author Biography

RANDALL BOLTEN operates a consulting practice focused on financial management and information presentation. He is a seasoned and accomplished finance executive, with thirty years of experience in high-growth and high-potential Silicon Valley companies. His professional passion is presenting information that can enable managers, investors, and the general public to make real sense of complicated situations. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University and an MBA from Stanford University.

Table of Contents

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