Communicators Must Have Business, Financial Knowledge

For decades, communicators have been able to advance in their careers while avoiding anything to do with numbers and most things having to do with the essence of how business decisions are made. To succeed in the future, this will no longer be the case. A recent series of conversations with 31 chief executive officers for a study conducted by the Arthur W. Page Society revealed that the No. 1 quality CEOs want in a communication chief is a detailed knowledge of the company’s business.

Gentry, James K. Communication World Bulletin (2008). Articles>Business Communication>Financial

A Primer on Financial Statements

One of the major challenges facing corporate communicators is understanding the financial statements of public companies. First, there is the math. Then, there is the matter of all that unfamiliar jargon. The purpose of this column and its next few installments is to give you an overview of the primary financial statements—the balance sheet, the income statement and the statement of cash flows—and how they are generated, so that you can make sense of a public company’s financial documents.

Gentry, James K. Communication World Bulletin (2008). Articles>Business Communication>Financial