Are You Fluent In Professional Jibberish?

Cynthia Hurt

Do you find yourself altering and re-writing reports to get your financial reports out the door? If so, read on!

I recently went to the doctor to have some tests done. The next day I got a notification that the results were posted to my online medical chart. As soon as I opened the results I thought, "Oh no! What does this mean?!"

 
After a frantic search on WebMD and several phone calls I was finally able to speak to my doctor—only to have her explain that everything was normal, and I had nothing to worry about. While I was obviously relieved, I was also frustrated with the process. A report that explained the results in plain language and not professional jibberish would have prevented my panic and saved my time and the doctor's time.

 
As frustrated as I was, this experience also offered me an opportunity for self-reflection. I thought back to my time as a finance associate at a nonprofit. I remembered how annoyed I would get when I had to alter our standard financial statements for every reporting request even though the information was the same.

 
I now realize that accounting has its own professional jibberish—its own special language—that creates frustration and can waste everyone's time trying to translate.

 
Learn how to avoid the pains of professional jibberish with Blackbaud University's new class Financial Edge NXT: Audience Focused Financial Statements! Financial Edge NXT has several tools that make reports easy for you to create and easy for your audience to understand.

 
This course is included with your Learn More or Learn Everything training subscription. Not a subscriber? Find out how a Learn® subscription can help you develop your ongoing skills!

 
While Blackbaud University is here to help you avoid professional jibberish with your financial reports, sadly it looks like I’m stuck with WebMD searches to help me translate my medical chart.