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

Painting with Numbers does an excellent job of covering all the topics that go into effectively communicating with numbers. Bolten’s style of writing is engaging, entertaining, and, most important, effective at delivering his message. This book hasn’t only become a key reference on my bookshelf, but I also now have a comprehensive, textbook-style reference to use when I mentor others on communicating effectively with numbers." (Bill Boehman, CMA, CPA, Strategic Finance Magazine, January 2013)

"There actually are quite a lot of annoying things that accountants and analysts do with spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations. By the time I finished the first section of the book, I had thought of five or six experienced accountants at clients or companies I am investigating to whom I would like to give this book." (The Value Examiner, Sept/Oct 2012)

"If you're doing investment pitches, you should read this book. If you're doing a pitch I'm going to see, I want you to have read this book. And if you're a startup CFO, finance lead, bean counter, or presentation slide deck preparer, then you should read this book." (Gust.com, June 2012)

"Do you want to tell a story with numbers? If so, I recommend you run, don't walk, to buy this book." (Life Insurance Selling Magazine, June 2012)

Praise for Painting with Numbers

FROM REVIEWS:

"I highly recommend the very accessible and process based book Painting with Numbers: Presenting Financials and Other Numbers So People Will Understand You by Randall Bolten, to anyone in business, public policy making, analysis, science, or any occupation or profession who works with numbers and must present that data to an audience. This book will improve your numeric and overall presentation skills, boost your career, and create a more successful business."
—Wayne Hurlbert, Blog Business World

"Painting with Numbers: Presenting Financials and Other Numbers So People Will Understand You [is] a book that will help you overcome the stigma of presenting numbers and allow you to give more effective presentations involving numbers.... For those in the financial world, Bolten's book is perfect if you're looking to give more successful presentations. It's as simple as that. You will be doing yourself – and your career – a huge favor."
—David Domzalski, FinancialBin.com

"Painting with Numbers, by Randall Bolten [is] the best book I've seen on how to present numbers with skill. Randall was a CFO for twenty years in Silicon Valley, so he's got the benefit of seeing all the various ways, shapes, and sizes that people throw numbers around. He's exactly the right person to learn from when it comes to seeing through the numbers, knowing what they mean, and knowing how to present them more effectively to speak the truth, and to make better decisions ... in work and in life.

It's a book I'm going to recommend to the people I mentor to help them advance their careers and take their game to the next level."
—J.D. Meier, MSDN Blogs

FROM SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS:

"I've seen Randy Bolten's presentation about his book, Painting with Numbers(Wiley 2012) twice. Randy focuses on communicating numerical data. As a former CFO in the semiconductor industry, he has faced many a room full of high-level executives, and he has seen many a financial presentation -- some clear, many not so clear. His precepts are down-to-earth tips that anyone can learn to use. Simple, but not trivial. They fit into the half-hour between generating the numbers and publishing the report."
—Richard Mateosian, STC Fellow (Society for Technical Communication)

"Randall's relaxed and personable presentation style made it easy to connect with the audience. He brought the definition of "quantation" to life with useful examples of how we, as professional communicators, can more clearly present financial information. I've seen enough bad presentations in my career to know that this information will be helpful to many."
—David Gennarelli, Director, Investor Relations, Autodesk, Inc., and President, SF chapter of NIRI (National Investor Relations Institute)

"Great presentation! Randall is an engaging and hugely knowledgeable speaker, who gave us a much-needed wake-up call about the importance of mastering financial communication. Not only was it useful, but thanks to Randall's humor and warmth, everyone enjoyed the ride. I highly recommend him!"
—Rikke Jorgensen, VP Programs & Professional Development, International Association of Business Communicators, San Francisco chapter

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.

PAINTING WITH NUMBERS

Presenting Financials and Other Numbers So People Will Understand You

You have a lot of numbers to report or present, and your readers or listeners will give you only a few minutes to get your point across. Presenting numerical information coherently is a communication skill, and like any other communication skill, how well you do this has a dramatic effect on your audience's understanding of your narrative. Moreover, they will not distinguish between you and the information you are providing when forming conclusions about your professional and personal credibility. With Painting with Numbers, you'll discover how to present numbers clearly and effectively so your ideas and your presentation resonate with your audience. This is a skill that can be learned.

During his nearly twenty years as a CFO in Silicon Valley, author Randall Bolten learned that small changes in the way numbers were presented made a huge difference in how well they were understood. In Painting with Numbers, you'll learn the art of quantation: the act of presenting numbers articulately for the purpose of informing an audience. Misunderstood reports can lead to mass confusion, and even costly errors. Bolten shows you how to package your material into the "right" presentation to deliver an outstanding performance, every time.

Featuring a wide range of quantation examples, Painting with Numbers covers what you need to know to present numbers so that people can understand them quickly and get the maximum meaning from them. This accessible reference will teach you to:

• Use the Arabic numeral system to your advantage
• Master the layout to convey your information most effectively
• Use visual effects to enhance your reports
• Use software tools, including Excel and PowerPoint, efficiently to drive home your point
• Make graphs comprehensible and meaningful to your audience
• Interact with your audience as a peer
• Maximize the impact of the numbers in your oral presentations
• Add even more meaning to your quantation by combining ratios and other metrics with the basic report information
• Get the words right, and not just the numbers
• Create useful and meaningful management reports
• See how quantation can clarify public policy issues
• Appreciate the role quantation plays in your daily life

Painting with Numbers will show you how to communicate financials and tell your story in a way that is clear, comprehensible, concise, elegant, and, most of all, effective.