Narrative Linking Best Practices

What to link

The most efficient narrative linking strikes a balance between the structured linking from excel with the freedom of composing text in Word.

Narrative linking is best used where the content rolls forward with the same structure. If the paragraph or sentence will be re-written when the values change, we recommend typing the content in Word like normal. In general, discussion of the changes each period and may not make sense to link.

Avoid linking values that will shift the sentence structure when the value changes. For example, “did not have any” will change the structure of the sentence when it becomes a value.

Creating links

Only create named ranges for the values that are actually linked in the report-- too many values make it more time-consuming to find the correct one.

Naming conventions

Suggested naming convention:

  • Optional: start with DM_ to quickly identify the named ranges related to your DM report.
  • Use an abbreviated version of the footnote name or section of the document (e.g. FVM_ or SBC_)
  • Use the name of the concept
  • Use additional information only if needed to differentiate two concepts (e.g RSU_ vs. PSU_
  • Use an abbreviation for the period (commonly, current year CY, prior year PY or 2 years prior 2PY. For 10Qs, commonly CQTD, CYTD, PQTD, PYTD)

Hyperlink or paste the named range in excel for quick reference.

Formatting

Make sure the cell format, such as parentheses, commas (“#,##0”), and decimal points are the way you want it to come through into Word. No need to worry about font, font size, or color, since these attributes come from the formatting in Word.

Formulas

Narrative links are most effective when the values are populated with formulas, such as to tie back to where the values are shown on the income statement.

Popular formulas: ROUND, ABS, TEXT, IF

Maintaining Links

Use Show Me to check which values are narrative linked and be aware of them when you update content. The links are bookmarks on the Word surface and are deleted when the text is deleted. Typing inside a narrative link will be lost when the link is updated. Creating and maintaining narrative linking is the client responsibility, but we are happy to provide guidance and answer questions.

Watch carefully

Be on the look out for dollar signs, hyphens, and open parentheses near linked values, to ensure the value comes through correctly. Add these back outside the bookmark after the link is created if needed.

Rolling forward

Typically Roll-Forward is set up from 10K to 10K, and from Q1 --> Q2 --> Q3 --> Q1. However, for a document with a lot of quarter specific narrative linking (such as the MD&A results section), it may make more sense to roll Q1 --> Q1, Q2 --> Q2, and Q3 --> Q3.