Painting with Numbers -- Contents -- Foreword -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction This book Is Not About Numbers-Honest! -- Being "Literate" -- It's What They Think That Matters -- What You Were Never Taught -- The Ultimate Goal -- Some Notes about Reading This Book -- Part I The Rules -- Chapter 1 Numerals Matter -- Lining Up the Numbers -- The Units of Measure -- Precision -- Negative Numbers: What Do They Mean? -- Chapter 2 Looks Matter -- The Tabula Rasa Decision -- The "Where's Waldo?" Eff ect -- White Space Is Your Friend -- ...But White Space Is Not Always Your Friend -- Time and Other Dimensions: Across or Down? -- Borders, Shading, and Other Visual Effects -- Comments and Artwork -- The "Ransom Note" Effect -- Two Truly Helpful Hints -- Chapter 3 Words Matter. -- Mean What You Say and Say What You Mean -- Choosing between Precision and Presentability -- Treating Words Like Numbers -- Remember the Title. Please. -- Chapter 4 Your Audience Matters -- The Right Amount of Data -- Appropriate Emphasis on Critical Information -- Consistency -- Meaningful and Relevant Numbers -- Respect for Your Audience's Time -- Wrap-Up for Part I: The Rules -- Part II the tools -- Chapter 5 You Can Pay Me Now -- The Instant Payoff Tips -- Instant Payoff Tip #1: Set Up Templates and Styles -- Instant Payoff Tip #2: Customize Your Toolbar -- Instant Payoff Tip #3: Learn Some Shortcut Keys -- Instant Payoff Tip #4: Use Consistent Formats -- Instant Payoff Tip #5: Learn to Use Excel as a Database -- Instant Payoff Tip #6: Learn to Use the Lookup & Reference Functions -- Instant Payoff Tip #7: Organize Data for Easy Computation -- Instant Payoff Tip #8: Learn to Use Automated Help -- Instant Payoff Tip #9: Don't Learn Too Many Ways to Do the Same Thing -- Chapter 6 Or Pay Me Later -- The Long-Term Payoff Tips.

Long-Term Payoff Tip #1: Use Sensible, Intelligent Filenames and Folder Organization -- Long-Term Payoff Tip #2: Use Consistent Formats -- Long-Term Payoff Tip #3: Design Intelligent, Intelligible Formulas -- Long-Term Payoff Tip #4: Use Named Ranges -- Long-Term Payoff Tip #5: Use Named Formulas or Macros -- Long-Term Payoff Tip #6: Links: A Force That Can Be Used for Good or Evil -- Long-Term Payoff Tip #7: Make Different Types of Cells Visually Distinguishable and Physically Separate -- Long-Term Payoff Tip #8: Document Your Work! -- Long-Term Payoff Tip #9: Check Your Work! -- Long-Term Payoff Tip #10: Avoid Cool New Features -- Chapter 7 Graphs: The "Cartoons" of Numbers -- Why Do People Use Graphs? -- Help Your Audience -- First, Do No Harm -- Chapter 8 The Pitfalls of Presentations and PowerPoint -- Why Do People Make Fun of Business Presentations? -- Real Estate Is a Scarce and Precious Commodity -- Help Your Audience -- First, Do No Harm -- Some Basic Truths That Go Double for Quantation -- Wrap-Up for Part II: The Tools -- Part III real Mastery -- Chapter 9 It's Clear, but Is It Meaningful? -- The War of the Adjectives -- A Quantation Professional -- Relating to Your Audience in a Constructive Way -- Chapter 10 53 . . . Uh, Is That a Lot? -- What Is a Key Indicator? -- What Makes a Good Key Indicator? -- A Simple Example -- How Do You Present Key Indicators Effectively? -- A Note on Precision -- A Note on Dashboards -- Chapter 11 The One Report Every Organization Needs -- A Sample Natural P&L, and What Makes It a Good One -- 1. One Page! -- 2. Decision-Focused Line Items -- 3. Appropriate Dollar Amounts, Neither Too Big Nor Too Small -- 4. Intuitive Organization of the Line Items -- 5. Understandable Categories, Meaningful to All Users -- 6. Plain-English Terminology -- 7. Consistent Look-and-Feel.

8. Key Results Equal to the Corresponding Numbers in the Accounting System (or an Explanation Why Not) -- Mapping the Chart of Accounts -- Generate a Natural P&L from a Spreadsheet, or from the Accounting System?. -- Now Let's Talk about the Columns -- Appendix 11A A Sermon to the Accounting Purists -- Chapter 12 The Gaps in GAAP -- Rules-Based versus Principles-Based -- Where Is All This Headed? -- "Expensing" Stock Options -- Software Revenue Recognition -- Tying GAAP to Internal Management Reports -- Appendix 12A Some Notes on GAAP -- What Is GAAP? -- Stock Options -- Revenue Recognition -- Chapter 13 Quantation: It's Not Just for business Anymore -- One Taxpayer at a Time -- All the Taxpayers at Once -- What's Really Going on Here? -- Chapter 14 Quantation in Ordinary Life -- Models -- The Meaning of Words -- That Quiz I Promised -- Part IV Wrap-Up -- Chapter 15 Speaking Truth to Power -- My "Tell the Truth" Syllogism -- Reason #1 for Telling the Truth: It's the Right Thing to Do -- Reason #2: It's in Your Employer's Interest -- Reason #3: It's in Your Interest -- Reason #4: You Will Get Caught -- Reason #5: It's the "Gotcha" of This Book -- Don't Be So Smug, You Civil Servants and Elected Officials! -- Your Audience Has a Role, Too -- Chapter 16 Now, What's the First Thing You Do? -- My Last, Best Tip -- It's Just a Skill -- Where We Have Been -- Appendix Jazz Meets Theology -- Revisitation -- The Sins of Presentation -- The Sins of Behavior -- The Deadliest Sin of All -- About the Author -- Index.