Say It With Charts: The Executive's Guide to Successful Presentations in the 1990s, 2d ed.

• Author: Mays, Benjamin

This book is of use to almost all finance officials. The past decade has seen the personal computer revolution take hold in almost all business and government offices. Financial information has gone from pencils, ledgers and mainframes, to spreadsheets, CD-ROM and laser printers. The easy availability of this increased technology also has affected the ability of officials to graphically represent their financial data. Unfortunately, the new technology does not automatically endow the user with the ability to effectively communicate the desired graphic message. All too often, the importance of the data to be presented can be distorted by the form of graphic chosen. This book offers practical advice on how to deliver the desired message clearly and effectively. This is not a guide to a particular software package, it is, rather, an illustration of coherent graphic presentation techniques, with emphasis on the use of 35mm slides.

The author presents a simple three step process for the use of graphic displays: 1) examine the data and define the message to be presented from it; 2) from the message, decide the kind of comparison to be made; and 3) use the form of the comparison to determine the form of the chart.

The message is primarily determined by the data, of course, but it also is partially determined by the anticipated audience. While the author touches upon communication to the anticipated audience by suggesting simplicity in slide presentations, a prior understanding of the audience is extremely important. In public finance, the level of sophistication of the audience may vary substantially and must be a consideration in determining the message and its form.

The comparison to be made is derived from the desired message. There are really only five basic kinds of comparisons: component, item, time series, frequency distribution and correlation. A component comparison shows the relationship of a single data point to the whole series. An examination of debt service as a percentage of total expenditures would entail a component comparison. An item comparison shows the relative size or rank of an individual data point in a series. The display of property taxes as the largest source of revenue would be an item comparison. Time series comparisons track data over a discrete segment of time. Tracking monthly cash flows over a year would involve a time series comparison. A frequency distribution comparison shows how points in a data series fall...