New standardised business reporting hits the high notes
Jayne Webb | July 24, 2026
Imagine a conductor rising to lead a symphony orchestra. She opens the sheet music and is filled with horror. The musical notation is not what she’s used to — it uses symbols she doesn’t know, different notes are used for the same thing, and each staff is a different size.
We all probably take for granted the hard work that’s been done to standardise things like musical notation, maps, electric circuits, or construction plans.
But in the world of business reports, things are still a little dissonant. Busy business people need to read hundreds of written reports, see presentations, and check dashboards from various authors with individual preferences and capabilities. And if those authors aren’t writing to the same score, it wastes time and money and puts quality decisions at risk.
Good decisions flow from clear information
Decision-makers first need to decode the design of charts, tables, and other visuals before they can get to grips with the written content. So, a new ISO plain language standard with requirements for consistent and clear notation for business reporting is music to our ears.
ISO 24896, Notation for business reporting, builds on ISO 24495-1:2023, Plain language — Part 1: Governing principles and guidelines. It gives clear design requirements for the results of business reporting, which include written reports, presentations and dashboards.
The standard covers:
- descriptive text elements like number formats, technical terms and abbreviations
- explanatory text elements like key messages and annotations
- charts
- tables
- business dimensions (measurements)
- comparisons
- highlighting differences and trends.
Find out more about ISO 24896:2026, Notation for business reporting
A chorus of help on hand
We’re thrilled to see this new standard, which helps readers recognise patterns and understand meaning quickly, clearly, and accurately. And we’re all singing from the same song sheet because these ISO standards are in harmony with our own long-standing advice and plain language standard.
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