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| Foreword | |
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| Preface | |
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| Acknowledgments | |
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| Introduction: This Book Is Not About Numbers-Honest! | |
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| Being "Literate" | |
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| It's What They Think That Matters | |
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| What You Were Never Taught | |
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| The Ultimate Goal | |
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| Some Notes about Reading This Book | |
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| The Rules | |
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| Numerals Matter | |
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| Lining Up the Numbers | |
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| The Units of Measure | |
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| Precision | |
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| Negative Numbers: What Do They Mean? | |
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| Looks Matter | |
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| The Tabula Rasa Decision | |
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| The "Where's Waldo?" Effect | |
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| White Space Is Your Friend | |
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| …But White Space Is Not Always Your Friend | |
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| Time and Other Dimensions: Across or Down? | |
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| Borders, Shading, and Other Visual Effects | |
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| Comments and Artwork | |
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| The "Ransom Note" Effect | |
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| Two Truly Helpful Hints | |
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| Words Matter | |
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| Mean What You Say and Say What You Mean | |
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| Choosing between Precision and Presentability | |
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| Treating Words Like Numbers | |
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| Remember the Title. Please | |
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| Your Audience Matters | |
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| The Right Amount of Data | |
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| Appropriate Emphasis on Critical Information | |
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| Consistency | |
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| Meaningful and Relevant Numbers | |
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| Respect for Your Audience's Time | |
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| Wrap-Up For Part I: The Rules | |
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| The Tools | |
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| You Can Pay Me Now | |
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| The Instant Payoff Tips | |
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| Instant Payoff Tip #1: Set Up Templates and Styles | |
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| Instant Payoff Tip #2: Customize Your Toolbar | |
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| Instant Payoff Tip #3: Learn Some Shortcut Keys | |
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| Instant Payoff Tip #4: Use Consistent Formats | |
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| Instant Payoff Tip #5: Learn to Use Excel as a Database | |
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| Instant Payoff Tip #6: Learn to Use the Lookup & Reference Functions | |
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| Instant Payoff Tip #7: Organize Data for Easy Computation | |
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| Instant Payoff Tip #8: Learn to Use Automated Help | |
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| Instant Payoff Tip #9: Don't Learn Too Many Ways to Do the Same Thing | |
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| …Or Pay Me Later | |
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| The Long-Term Payoff Tips | |
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| Long-Term Payoff Tip #1: Use Sensible, Intelligent Filenames and Folder Organization | |
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| Long-Term Payoff Tip #2: Use Consistent Formats | |
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| Long-Term Payoff Tip #3: Design Intelligent, Intelligible Formulas | |
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| Long-Term Payoff Tip #4: Use Named Ranges | |
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| Long-Term Payoff Tip #5: Use Named Formulas or Macros | |
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| Long-Term Payoff Tip #6: Links: A Force That Can Be Used for Good or Evil | |
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| Long-Term Payoff Tip #7: Make Different Types of Cells Visually Distinguishable and Physically Separate | |
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| Long-Term Payoff Tip #8: Document Your Work! | |
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| Long-Term Payoff Tip #9: Check Your Work! | |
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| Long-Term Payoff Tip #10: Avoid Cool New Features | |
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| Graphs: The "Cartoons" of Numbers | |
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| Why Do People Use Graphs? | |
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| Help Your Audience | |
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| First, Do No Harm | |
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| The Pitfalls of Presentations and PowerPoint | |
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| Why Do People Make Fun of Business Presentations? | |
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| Real Estate Is a Scarce and Precious Commodity | |
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| Help Your Audience | |
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| First, Do No Harm | |
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| Some Basic Truths That Go Double for Quantation | |
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| Wrap-Up for Part II: The Tools | |
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| Real Mastery | |
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| It's Clear, But Is It Meaningful? | |
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| The War of the Adjectives | |
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| A Quantation Professional | |
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| Relating to Your Audience in a Constructive Way | |
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| 53…Uh, Is That a Lot? | |
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| What Is a Key Indicator? | |
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| What Makes a Good Key Indicator? | |
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| A Simple Example | |
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| How Do You Present Key Indicators Effectively? | |
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| A Note on Precision | |
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| A Note on Dashboards | |
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| The One Report Every Organization Needs | |
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| A Sample Natural P&L, and What Makes It a Good One | |
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| One Page! | |
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| Decision-Focused Line Items | |
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| Appropriate Dollar Amounts, Neither Too Big Nor Too Small | |
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| Intuitive Organization of the Line Items | |
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| Understandable Categories, Meaningful to All Users | |
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| Plain-English Terminology | |
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| Consistent Look-and-Feel | |
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| Key Results Equal to the Corresponding Numbers in the Accounting System (or an Explanation Why Not) | |
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| Mapping the Chart of Accounts | |
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| Generate a Natural P&L from a Spreadsheet, or from the Accounting System? | |
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| Now Let's Talk about the Columns | |
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| A Sermon to the Accounting Purists | |
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| The Gaps in GAAP | |
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| Rules-Based versus Principles-Based | |
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| Where Is All This Headed? | |
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| "Expensing" Stock Options | |
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| Software Revenue Recognition | |
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| Typing GAAP to Internal Management Reports | |
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| Some Notes on GAAP | |
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| What Is GaaP? | |
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| Stock Options | |
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| Revenue Recognition | |
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| Quantation: It's Not Just for Business Anymore | |
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| One Taxpayer at a Time | |
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| All the Taxpayers at Once | |
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| What's Really Going on Here? | |
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| Quantation in Ordinary Life | |
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| Models | |
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| The Meaning of Words | |
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| That Quiz I Promised | |
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| Wrap-Up | |
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| Speaking Truth to Power | |
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| My "Tell the Truth" Syllogism | |
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| Reason #1 for Telling the Truth: It's the Right Thing to Do | |
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| Reason #2: It's in Your Employer's Interest | |
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| Reason #3: It's in Your Interest | |
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| Reason #4: You Will Get Caught | |
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| Reason #5: It's the "Gotcha" of This Book | |
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| Don't Be So Smug, You Civil Servants and Elected Officials! | |
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| Your Audience Has a Role, Too | |
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| Now, What's the First Thing You Do? | |
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| My Last, Best Tip | |
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| It's Just a Skill | |
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| Where We Have Been | |
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| Jazz Meets Theology | |
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| Revisitation | |
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| The Sins of Presentation | |
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| The Sins of Behavior | |
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| The Deadliest Sin of All | |
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| About the Author | |
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| Index | |