Business Communication Style

• Avoid abbreviations, in general, as they can create confusion.
• Use only abbreviations that will be clear to readers, such as postal abbreviations for states when preceded by city name (Madison, WI).

Spell out on first use and provide the acronym/initialism in parentheses; then use acronym or initialism as needed. An acronym is an initialism pronounced as a word, such as NASA, NIMBY, FOMO, AWOL, and NAFTA. An initialism is pronounced as a series of letters, such as DMV, CDC, MD, and SUV.

Omit periods in initialisms (US, EU).

Capitalize

• proper nouns
• titles when used with names (President Schumann, Senator Wang, Professor Phipps, Doctor Martinez)
• adjectives/adverbs derived from proper nouns (Parisian fashion, English toffee)
• course names (Economics 100), department names (Department of Economics), and organization names (Women in Economics)

Do not capitalize

• titles when they are not used with names (the senator thought, the professor wrote, the doctor prescribed)
• adjectives, adverbs, or common nouns (standing desk, highly regarded employee)
• academic fields (economics)

Note: Avoid ALL CAPS, which can suggest an aggressive tone. See the page on effective document design for tips on appropriate and professional graphic emphasis.

Proofread all work carefully to avoid common mistakes that spell check will not highlight, such as customers/costumers, managers/mangers, possesses/posses, wary/weary.

Pro-tip: Keep a list of words you frequently misspell. During your final edit, use the Find (or Find and Replace) function to catch and correct every instance.

Writing sentences with numbers, fractions, ordinals, dates, and addresses can create confusion. Follow standard practices to meet most audiences’ needs.

Numbers

Spell out numbers from zero through nine.

• We plan to hire seven auditors to study tax fraud in 2026.
• I worked in sales for one year.

Use numerals for larger numbers, starting with 10.

• The franchise started with three restaurants in the Detroit metro area and has expanded to 128 restaurants in six states, including New York, Texas, and California.
• A former financial advisor will spend 32 months in prison for stealing money from a client, according to Barron’s.

Use numerals when combining a number from one through nine with a larger number (e.g., 8–137).

• Participants in the study ranged in age from 4 – 14.
• We typically sell anywhere from 8 – 200 tickets per day through our proprietary booking app.

Spell out any number that begins a sentence.

• Twenty-five years after the company’s founding
• Ninety-two chargers in the network offer ultra-fast charging.

Fractions

Spell out common fractions used for approximate values.

• One third of all sales reps missed their annual quota.
• About a fourth of museum visitors made a purchase at the gift shop last week.

Use numerals for all other types of fractions

• To fit the space, we’ll need to order a custom cabinet that is 13 ⅜ inches wide.

Ordinals

Spell out ordinals (e.g., first, fourth).

• The first quarter saw an increase in electric vehicle sales.
• Our county is building a fourth wind farm.
• We’d prefer office space on the first floor.

Dates

Use numerals in dates.

• The next board meeting will be April 10, 2026.
• The SEC filed fraud charges against Sam Bankman-Fried on December 13, 2022. 

Addresses

Use numerals in addresses

• You’ll find our food truck outside the Wisconsin School of Business, at 675 University Avenue.
• We’re interested in the open office space located at 811 East Washington Avenue.

Statistics & Mathematics

Use numerals for statistical and mathematical expressions

• The MIT Technology Review reported that the production of plastic increases by about 5% every year.
• We hope to achieve a survey participation rate of 73%

Business documents follow consistent rules for page numbers.

For documents less than one page

• Do not number

For documents more than one page

• Number pages

For complex documents with multiple sections

• Title Page: no page number
• Front matter: page number in footer, centered, small Roman numerals

• Main Report Text (first page after Front Matter): page number in footer, right-justified, Arabic numerals (i.e., “regular” numbers), restart numbering at “1”
• Appendices or Back Matter, if applicable: page number in footer, right-justified, Arabic numerals, continuing from main report body
• Font: use the same font and font size for page numbers in all sections

• Put commas and periods that follow a quote inside the quotation marks; other punctuation (semi-colon, colon, dash) goes outside, unless it is part of the quote itself.
• Avoid putting a colon at the end of headings or after an active verb.
• Use single quotation marks (‘like this’) only to indicate a quote inside of another quote. For all other cases, use double quotation marks (“like this”).
• Refer to a grammar or standard style guide for additional information about punctuation (APA, Chicago, Elements of Style, etc.).

• Number (Table 1, Figure 2, etc.), with a title above the table/figure and with source hyperlinked (10-point) below the table/figure.
• Adjust size in order to be legible without overwhelming the page.
• Locate next to or after the data they illustrate.
• Place large graphics in an appendix rather than in the text.

• Use word-processing software (such as Word) to generate. Do not create manually.
• Include the executive summary, if applicable, the main body sections, and references and appendices, if applicable.
• Confirm page numbers are accurate and consistent.
• Review entries for clear heading hierarchy. A table of contents should provide a useful overview of a report’s main topics.