The business literacy a medical writer needs

Medical writing produces documents within a business: quality, delivery time, costs and revenue are connected. Business literacy helps freelance and employed writers understand those connections, contribute to decisions and recognise what they need to learn before taking responsibility for clients, projects or departments.

Learning from the start

Business education should begin when writers begin learning to write, including economics and finance rather than waiting until midcareer. ¹ Business knowledge can arrive through on-the-job learning in mid- to late-career, when writers are already expected to analyse and synthesise knowledge across a portfolio under pressure and without prior observation. ² A comprehensive business curriculum, earlier participation in decisions and departmental support for that learning can help develop strategic thinking and leadership. ^{3, 4, 5}

Business knowledge applies beyond management roles: delivering a document for payment requires understanding the value offered, what can be billed and how the work and payment relate, particularly for freelancers. ⁶ Employed writers also benefit from responsibility for project cycle times and quality. ⁷ Freelancers need to understand their place in the chain of businesses and how a successful result makes participants want to work together again. ⁸

Gradual exposure connected to daily work is preferable to learning finances in a crisis. ⁹ One in-house writer first had to produce quarterly reforecasts and an annual budget after the department head left, with little financial context, and subsequently introduced financial concepts deliberately to an operations team. ⁹ Another writer, originally a bench scientist without business training, learned when establishing a business, using an accountant and many questions to understand the legal and practical nature of a business, earnings reporting and tax obligations. ¹⁰

The knowledge and skills to develop

Bookkeeping, estimating and budgeting belong in training for both freelancers and future department heads. ¹¹ Project-management competence includes understanding time and materials, knowing how much work can be completed in a unit of time, and routinely maintaining metrics that support project costing. ¹² Writers need to connect the work of writing with business numbers rather than treating them separately. ^{12, 10}

A broader financial curriculum should pair general knowledge with training on the company’s own revenue generation and cash flow. ⁵ General topics include the following. ⁵

1. Accounting methods, including accrual and cash accounting.
2. Financial software.
3. Budgeting.
4. Forecasting.
5. Interpretation of financial statements.
6. Bookkeeping.

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Cash flow, balance sheets, quarterly earnings and budget forecasts can be unfamiliar to writers who have had little practice with them. ¹³ Understanding financial indicators and how revenue is generated helps employees at every level see the company’s position and direction, align decisions with its objectives and understand their own contribution. ⁵ This knowledge can help writers allocate resources, assess performance and sustain a business or department. ⁵

Managers need an additional range of business knowledge. ³

• Business interconnections.
• Management principles.
• Innovative concepts and organisational theories.
• Finance and budget management.
• Resource and performance management.
• Vendor management.
• Strategic planning.
• Change management.
• Metrics.

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Communication about business includes listening to what matters to business leaders; applying influence, negotiation and leadership without authority to a management audience differs from applying those skills within a document team. ⁴ Emotional intelligence also belongs in business learning and can continue to develop throughout a career, including in leadership roles. ¹⁴

Understanding the business behind a document

Financial learning needs to connect how much work can be completed in a unit of time with the required quality, delivery time and profitability. ¹⁰ Productivity and quality affect the ability to continue generating revenue; staff may see that connection less directly than independent freelancers. ¹⁵ In one business owner’s experience, client companies produced excellent work but spent far more time than scoped and eventually could not continue paying salaries. ¹⁵

Writers need to know which financial questions to ask—for example, what amending a protocol costs and which operational activities contribute to that cost. ¹⁶ A separate finance department can make these details less visible to in-house writers, while deliberate sharing of financial information helps staff understand daily business activity. ^{16, 9}

Forecasting and tracking accruals require knowledge of both the expected project effort and progress already made. ^{17, 18} Writers on either side of a vendor relationship may need to tell finance that a project is one-third complete and estimate its position next month, which requires communication about progress and difficulties. ¹⁷

Early-career operations staff also need to understand client touchpoints and what encourages clients to return, whether or not those staff intend to become writers. ¹ Continually explaining where staff fit in the sales process can therefore be part of business education. ¹