Business Financial English: Financial Presentations in English

Are you nervous when giving presentations? Do you need more confidence giving financial information? Well, read this article to get some hints as to how to improve your financial presentations.

It’s difficult to speak in public in any language, including your native language. But, if you are working in finance, you will probably have to make a presentation of financial information some time in your career. It’s important to give the presentation correctly so you communicate the information you want to communicate, and maybe make a good impression on your boss!

1) Giving any presentation in English means you need to know the standard English vocabulary for the different parts of the presentation. Here are examples of some of the vocabulary you need:

Introduction:
Good Morning. Today we are going to discuss this year’s sales figures.

Summarize the presentation in advance.
First I will summarize the overall position
Then, I will analyze the European sales result
Finally, I will look at South American Sales

Dealing with interruptions
Please feel free to ask questions any time you want
Or: If you don’t mind, you can ask questions at the end of the presentation

Moving between different parts of the presentation:
Let’s move on or
Moving on to the next part of the presentation or
Now let’s look at….

Finishing the presentation:
That’s the end of the presentation. Thank you for your attention. Are there any questions?

2) It is also very important to know how to correctly use numbers in English. This gives problems to many people, but is obviously of great importance. Some of the more common mistakes are:

a) In some languages, a point separates thousands and hundreds and a comma separates the number from the decimal. In English, it’s the opposite. It is correct to say that the company has one thousand three hundred twenty seven employees (1,327), not one point three two seven employees (1.327). (Would you like to be the .327 of an employee? I wouldn’t!) 1.327 in English is a number between 1 and 2.
b) In English, after the decimal point you must say each number individually. It is incorrect to say that sales increased by two point seventy five percent ( 2.75%). Sales increased by two point seven five percent. The main exception to this rule is with money. $2.66 is two dollars sixty six, not two point six six dollars.

Obviously, this article cannot give enough information to improve your numbers in English. You need to do a course in numbers in English. I recommend the course in numbers and trends at www.englishforfinance.com/courses.html .

3) You should also have a good knowledge of the language of trends. Describing increases and decreases over time is essential when giving financial presentations. For example, do you understand what it means if I say that sales plummeted last year. Is that good or bad? Or what about profits soared last month. Is that good or bad? (Answers at the end of the article? This article cannot give you enough information to learn the language of trends. You need to do a course on trend language. Go to www.englishforfinance.com/courses.html and look at the numbers and trends course.

4) Finally, let’s look at graphs and charts you use in presentations. It is a very common mistake when giving a presentation to describe every single movement in the chart. Don’t do this! Let the graph do the talking. It describes movements and trends a thousand times better than you can with words. You only have to describe the important elements of the trend- highs, lows and general trends.

And remember practice makes perfect! Study English for presentations, numbers and trends, give lots of presentations in English and most importantly, have confidence in yourself!

Oh, before I forget, plummet means a sudden,large decrease and to soar means a sudden, large increase.

Introduction to English for Finance

Business English for Finance- Learning Accounting and Financial Terms and Vocabulary

We should start by asking what is English for finance? It is the learning of English specifically geared towards accounting, finance, auditing or whatever area of finance you need to learn.

The next question could be how is learning English for finance different from learning general English or business English? The main difference relates to vocabulary. Knowing the technical vocabulary related to your specific job or area of study is essential if top performance is to be achieved.

Business English classes tend to focus on meetings, negotiations and other business functions. A business English class might focus on your area of expertise irregularly (especially if you are learning in a group). English for finance, however, involves regular study (as in every class) of related financial and accounting themes.

Some students find that learning English for finance in every class is a bit difficult. For many students, the English class is a break from the working routine. Students want to relax during their class, have some fun and learn English. They don’t necessarily want to focus on finance during class when they are trying to relax and forget about work for a while! If this is the case, then they should have classes of general English and forget about technical financial English.

For the students who want to focus on financial English, they must decide how much time in class they want to dedicate to financial English. Some students are happy with 30 minutes out of a 90-minute class. Others (usually the boss!) not only want a full 100% of the class dedicated to financial English, but also insist that their subordinates spend 100% of their classes on financial English!

If you want to learn financial English, there are various methods your teacher can use. The financial times is great for reading about finance and for learning new vocabulary. New vocabulary learning can be reinforced by doing vocabulary exercises such as crosswords, definitions, etc. Your teacher will be able to supply these. Also ask your teacher for listening exercises related to finance or accounting. Video is fairly easy to find by recording from financial television stations. Grammar can be revised by adapting existing grammar exercises to a financial context. Finally and most importantly, speak to your teacher about your job, financial matters etc. Do role-plays with your teacher where your teacher puts you in a financial situation and asks you to speak (always prepare the vocabulary first).

Finally, where do you find a teacher of financial English? It’s quite difficult to find a financial English teacher. The teacher must have knowledge of finance, but is not an “expert”. A qualified, experienced teacher who has a diploma or degree in business, finance or accounting is a good profile. Or a qualified, experienced teacher who has worked in the financial/accounting world is acceptable also.