accord — Voice and editorial guidelines

I developed and maintained these guidelines for accord's content. This edition consolidates the practical principles and reflects how I adapted the guidance after the agency-led 2026 rebrand. It also clarifies rules that had become too rigid or inconsistent through successive updates.

Who we are writing for

accord implements and supports financial management software. Its readers include Finance Directors, CFOs and Finance Managers making decisions about their systems and day-to-day work.

They need to understand what a feature or service means for their team: how information moves, which tasks change and what they can rely on. Respect their financial knowledge. Explain unfamiliar software terminology when it matters to the decision.

The voice

Write like a knowledgeable consultant who listens carefully and explains things clearly. Be calm, direct and specific. Let expertise show through the explanation.

Show care through usefulness

Name the practical difficulty and help the reader understand what they can do about it. Reassurance is stronger when it is supported by a clear explanation.

Make technical detail meaningful

Use familiar finance terminology accurately. Connect a capability to a task, decision or control the reader recognises. Explain the relevant conditions and limitations alongside the benefit.

Give each sentence a purpose

Use concrete language and remove repetition that adds nothing. Keep enough detail for the reader to follow the reasoning. A shorter sentence is useful when it makes the explanation clearer.

Be confident about what we can support

State verified facts directly. Retain qualifications when the answer depends on configuration, circumstances or evidence. Avoid promises that the software or service cannot guarantee.

Put the principles into practice

Illustrative edits adapted from the working guidance. These demonstrate editorial choices; they are not published before-and-after samples.

These examples illustrate wording and reasoning. They are not promises about the scope of a particular accord service.

Adjust the tone to the channel

The underlying voice stays consistent. The relationship with the reader and the purpose of the message determine how it is expressed.

• Website copy: Explain the offer, who it suits and what the reader can do next. Keep the wording precise and the page easy to scan.
• Articles: Develop a useful explanation with examples and supporting evidence. Introduce product recommendations when they become relevant to the problem.
• LinkedIn: Establish the subject quickly. Use a concise argument, practical checklist or clear explanation suited to the format. Keep enough context to avoid a misleading hook.
• Customer newsletters: Write more personally. Combine useful advice with relevant product and team updates. A named sender can use “I”; use “we” when speaking for the company.
• Email outreach: Give a specific reason for contacting the reader and make the next step clear. Write with the care of a consultant addressing a peer.
• Formal documents: Prioritise precise scope, responsibilities and decisions. Keep the language accessible even when the subject is technical.

Consistency and editorial judgement

Names and language

Write accord in lowercase and Sage Intacct with both words capitalised. Specify the relevant Sage product when “Sage” alone would be ambiguous. Use British English and natural contractions. Address the reader as “you”; use “we” for the company voice.

Evidence and claims

Support statistics, comparisons and product claims with appropriate sources. Check dates, scope and applicability. A post without statistics still needs accurate advice. Prefer a useful explanation without a number to an irrelevant or outdated figure.

Brand language

Use approved brand phrases accurately and in suitable brand contexts. In practical explanations, describe the underlying activity or benefit in the reader's terms. Do not build new abstract slogans from the rebrand vocabulary.

Repetition

Repeat established terminology and campaign messages when consistency helps recognition. Keep the agreed commercial ask, Book a discovery session, consistent where it applies. Adapt the surrounding explanation to the reader and channel.

Check for accidental reuse of distinctive hooks and examples. Familiar sentence structures and ordinary words do not need to be retired after a single use.

Calls to action

Match the invitation to the content. Commercial LinkedIn posts can use a direct ask. Articles and customer emails can introduce it more gently. Avoid adding pressure or urgency that the situation does not justify.

The voice in use

Customer newsletter: making a finance problem recognisable

Published extract from accord Newsletter #7.

Most teams don't lose weeks arguing about next year. They lose them arguing about this year. Someone asks why a department's costs jumped in March and nobody can answer quickly. A cost centre got renamed halfway through the year. A handful of invoices went to the wrong code and never got moved. None of it is dramatic on its own, but together it means every conversation about next year starts with a detour into what happened last year.

The paragraph uses familiar examples to explain why budgeting can take longer than expected. The conversational tone suits an existing customer relationship, while the detail keeps the advice grounded in the reader's work.

The campaign and newsletter examples on the accord project page show how I applied the voice across longer pieces and different formats.

A final editorial check

• Is the situation specific enough for the reader to recognise?
• Does the explanation connect the detail to their work?
• Can we support the claims and promises?
• Does the tone suit the channel and relationship?
• Is the next step clear, where one is needed?

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