Is this the easiest way to bring numbers to life?

Data visualisation doesn’t have to be difficult.

You don’t need a fancy new app or system.

Simple text is my single favourite way to bring numbers to life.

It is way better than presenting a table of numbers or a P&L account.

You’ll see it used a lot in the front section of a listed company’s annual report.

That’s because marketeers write those sections, not accountants.

Accountants write the back of the report – with all the tables of numbers!

You see, marketeers know something that us finance people don’t.

They know that probably the worst way to communicate numbers is to use tables of numbers.

Instead they pick the most important numbers from the table they want people to look at and remember.

Then they make them really big, so they stand out, and put them in a different colour.

Then they add a few words to explain them underneath.

Welcome to simple text.

It really is as simple as that, and hugely powerful.

You can download the example below and see how you can present the whole P&L account using just this trick.

Why not try presenting your next monthly results using simple text?

It sure beats a P&L account!

And by the way, as far as telling stories with numbers goes, this is the quickest and easiest way to do it.