University of Wisconsin–Madison

Business Communication Style Guide

Style guides help organizations use consistent approaches to details like abbreviations, numbering, and tables. Most companies and other large organizations require employees to follow a style guide.

Abbreviations

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).

Acronyms and Initialisms

Spell out on first use and provide the acronym/initialism in parentheses; then use acronym or initialism as needed.

Acronyms

Acronyms are pronounced as a single word.

AWOL

FOMO

NASA

NIMBY

FOMO

YIMBY

Initialisms

An initialism is pronounced as a series of letters, such as DMV, CDC, MD, and SUV. Omit periods in initialisms.

The United States Department of Labor (DOL) publishes downloadable posters to alert employees of relevant laws and regulations. DOL posters are available in multiple languages.

Note: If you are certain that your audience is familiar with an acronym or initialism—IRS or NASA for instance—you don’t need to spell it out in casual correspondence.

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Capitalization

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.

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Editing

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.

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Numbers and Symbols

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

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Spell out numbers from zero through nine.

Examples

  • 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.

Examples

  • 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).

Examples

  • 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.

Examples

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

Spell out common fractions used for approximate values.

Examples

  • 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

Example

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

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

Examples

  • 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.

Use numerals in dates.

Examples

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

Use numerals in addresses.

Examples

  • 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.

Use numerals for statistical and mathematical expressions.

Examples

  • 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%
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Punctuation

  • 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.).
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Tables and Charts

  • 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.
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Tables of Contents

  • 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.
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On this page

Related pages

Document Organization
Business Communication Strategies
Report Strategies

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