ASIC FOI 007-2024
ASIC style guide:
Communicating clearly,
consistently and effectively
Version 10.0
August 2023
About this guide
This style guide is for ASIC staff producing internal and external
communications. It will help you to create professional-looking and effective
communications that reinforce ASIC’s reputation and credibility through the
use of:
clear, concise and inclusive language
consistent terminology, spel ing and style
a clear structure and design that meets government-mandated
accessibility requirements.
ASIC FOI 007-2024
ASIC style guide: Communicating clearly, consistently and effectively
Contents
A Writing for ASIC ............................................................................... 4
Identify your purpose and audience .................................................. 4
Use the right template ........................................................................ 5
Write using plain language principles ................................................ 6
Make your writing inclusive .............................................................. 10
Write respectful y about Indigenous peoples ................................... 10
Make your writing accessible to people with disability .................... 11
Use consistent terminology and consider searchability ................... 12
Have your writing edited .................................................................. 13
B Fol ow ASIC style conventions .................................................... 14
Shortened forms .............................................................................. 14
ASIC logo ......................................................................................... 15
Capitalisation ................................................................................... 15
Citing ASIC and non-ASIC documents, webpages and websites ... 16
Citing cases and judicial officers ..................................................... 20
Citing legislation and components of legislation .............................. 21
Citing standards ............................................................................... 24
Correspondence: Emails and letters ............................................... 24
Forms of address: How we refer to ourselves and others ............... 27
Hyperlinks ........................................................................................ 28
Lists .................................................................................................. 29
Numbers, currency, dates and times ............................................... 31
Punctuation ...................................................................................... 33
Spelling ............................................................................................ 35
Tables, graphs, diagrams and infographics ..................................... 37
C A to Z of ASIC style ....................................................................... 39
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A Writing for ASIC
This style guide will help you to communicate more effectively with your
audience. It includes guidance on:
planning your writing with a clearly defined purpose and target audience
accessing the right template to help ensure that your document has a clear
and consistent design
using plain language that is clear, inclusive and accessible to all readers
citing cases, standards, legislation, and ASIC and non-ASIC documents
and webpages
writing emails and letters, and
applying ASIC style conventions, including our preferred styles for
punctuation, spelling and capitalisation.
It also includes a quick-reference A to Z of ASIC style.
Identify your purpose and audience
Before you start writing, ensure that you have a clearly defined purpose and
target audience. Ask yourself:
What is the purpose of my document? Why am I writing it? It is easier to
write clearly if you start with a clear purpose. For example, do you want
to change behaviour, communicate findings and recommendations from a
research project, or report on ASIC activity for transparency reasons?
Who am I writing for? Who is my audience? Identifying your target
audience will help focus your writing. For example, are you writing for a
specific external audience, such as accountants or small business owners?
What does my audience need to do? What do they need to know? What
information do they already have? Focusing on what your audience needs
to ‘do’ will keep your writing active, rather than getting bogged down in
background and detail. Also review any relevant published ASIC
material, including website content, to ensure consistency and minimise
duplication of information.
Plan, structure and write your document to achieve your defined purpose and
to meet the needs of your target audience. Knowing your audience and
purpose, as well as the scope of your document, will inform your structure
and headings, and help you to keep your writing on track.
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Create a clear structure with information-rich headings
Begin by thinking through how best to organise your information so that it is
logical and easy to navigate and understand.
Group together related items using a consistent heading hierarchy. Aim for
‘structural balance’ by making each main section approximately the same
length. Grouping content in roughly equal ‘chunks’ will help your audience
navigate your information hierarchy more easily.
Signpost your structure, using:
an executive summary
key points for each section, and
information-rich headings.
Present your key points first, with background information kept to a
minimum and/or included later in the document or as an appendix. This
‘telescoping’ structure unpacks the information in priority order – starting
with the key points and then moving into explanatory content.
For example, if you have a ‘background’ section in a report, avoid the
temptation to include non-essential context. If you are writing a report on
ASIC findings, your audience is interested in the findings and
recommendations – so put this information upfront. Consider moving the
relevant background information to an appendix.
Also use bridging text to guide your audience from one section to the next.
Headings are a crucial navigation tool and help your audience understand at
a glance what your document is about. Ensure that all your headings are short
(ideally no more than 70 characters including spaces) and information-rich
(e.g. ‘Concerns about sales practices’ instead of ‘Background to this report’).
Write all headings in sentence case, using key words at the start of each
heading. Use minimal punctuation.
If possible, headings at the same level (e.g. H1 or H2) should be
grammatically consistent. For example, use:
all gerunds: ‘Applying for a credit licence’
all statements: ‘Credit licence application process’, or
all questions: ‘How do you apply for a credit licence?’.
For more information, see Structuring content in the
Style manual.
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The readability tool will tell you:
your average number of words per sentence (15–25 is a good score)
the percentage of passive sentences (less than 15% is a good score)
a ‘Flesch Reading Ease’ score (aim for a score greater than 50), and
a ‘Flesch–Kincaid Grade Level’ score (these are US grade levels – aim
for a score of less than 11).
To find out more
For more information on plain language, see Plain English@ASIC on
SharePoint. See also Plain language and word choice in the
Style manual.
Other useful resources include:
the US
Federal plain language guidelines (a resource for US government
agencies)
the Victoria Law Foundation’s communication resources, and
Peter Butt’s
Legal usage: A modern style guide, LexisNexis
Butterworths, 2018, which shows how to use simpler legal words and
phrases without sacrificing precision and accuracy.
Make your writing inclusive
Many readers of our communications, including many of those we regulate,
are from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Consider this
diversity when you communicate (e.g. when choosing names in examples).
Avoid referring to a person’s gender. Use ‘they’ instead of ‘his or her’, or
use a specific term, such as ‘the shareholder’ or ‘the issuer’. Another option
is to address the reader directly (i.e. using ‘you’).
When addressing an email or letter, use the recipient’s preferred title (if
known). Do not assume a person’s title. If the recipient’s title is unknown,
use their first and last name (e.g. Dear Jane Citizen).
Do not use gender-specific job titles or terms, such as chairman, unless they
are part of a person’s title.
See also Inclusive language in the
Style manual.
Write respectful y about Indigenous peoples
There are over 250 Indigenous language groups in Australia, which
historically have not been written about respectfully or in a culturally safe
way. The guidance in this section must be considered in conjunction with
guidance from the people you are writing about and their preferences.
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When referring to an individual Indigenous person, it’s acceptable to include
their Nation, island or community name (e.g. ‘the Hon Linda Burney MP, a
Wiradjuri woman’, ‘Noongar artist, Peter Farmer’). If you can, contact the
person to ask how they would like to be referred to.
If you are talking about a specific community, use that community’s name
(e.g. ‘Kulin nation’, ‘palawa’). Consult with traditional owners, local elders
and community to confirm the correct name and spelling, if possible.
Some community names include the concept of people, and therefore do not
take the suffix ‘people’ (e.g. ‘the Gadigal of the Eora nation’, ‘the pakana of
northern lutruwita’).
Use a capital for all Indigenous community names and titles. However, the
Aboriginal language of Tasmania, palawa kani, generally only uses capitals
for community groups, personal names, and family collectives. All other
words are lowercase, including place names.
To refer to Australia’s Indigenous peoples as a whole, you have several
options:
Indigenous peoples
Note: We use the plural when referring to Australia’s Indigenous population as a whole,
as it is made up of many nations and language groups.
First Nations peoples, and
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Note: Use ‘and/or’ in the phrase ‘Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples’ to
encompass people who are both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and those who are
one or the other. You can use ‘Aboriginal’ and ‘Torres Strait Islander’ separately for
individual people or communities where this is applicable, and in consultation with the
people or communities concerned.
Use the term consistently throughout your document. The adjectives ‘First
Nations’ and ‘Indigenous’ always take a capital letter. Only use indigenous
with a lower case ‘i’ to generally refer to indigenous plant and animal
species throughout the world. Do not use ‘Aborigine’ or ‘ATSI’.
See Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the
Style manual, the
Indigenous Outreach Program on the Regulation and Supervision Group Hub
on SharePoint, and Indigenous Cultural Safety workshops.
Make your writing accessible to people with disability
As a Government agency, ASIC must ensure that everyone has equal access
to our online information, regardless of disability or the technology they are
using. This means our online content, including downloadable files (such as
PDFs), should be able to be understood by people with disability.
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These ‘accessibility’ requirements are set out in the Web content
accessibility guidelines (WCAG 2.1). The guidelines describe how online
content needs to be written so that it is compatible with assistive
technologies, such as screen readers. This standard has been mandated for all
online Australian Government content: see the Digital Service Standard.
Some key principles for creating accessible content include:
using plain language (see Write using plain language principles)
using a template that includes heading and text styles, and ensuring that
you apply styles correctly (see Use the right template)
formatting tables with a clear and simple structure (e.g. do not leave cells
blank and avoid merged or split cells)
writing meaningful link text (e.g. ‘see our guidance for auditors’, not
‘click here‘)
providing alternative or ‘alt’ text for describing simple images
for more complex images, graphs or infographics, providing an ‘accessible’
text version (e.g. a table in an appendix that also sets out the data), and
creating transcripts for videos and audio material.
See the Accessibility resources section on the Publishing processes and
resources SharePoint page for a range of our resources on accessibility. See
also Make content accessible in the
Style manual.
Use consistent terminology and consider searchability
Introduce technical and legal terms clearly and explain each term in a way
that does not assume prior knowledge. Ensure that you use consistent
terminology (e.g. use ‘home loans’ instead of both ‘mortgages’ and ‘home
loans’). If you are writing a regulatory document, contact
s 22
for a list of standard key terms.
Be consistent and accurate in your use of words such as ‘should’ and ‘must’.
For example, are we telling an entity what it ‘must’ do to comply with the
law, or is it something it ‘should’ or ‘may’ do that will help it to comply with
the law?
Search engines prioritise words that appear in headings, introductory text
and summaries. Use headings that match the key terms or words used by
your audience to help your content appear higher in their search results.
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Have your writing edited
To book editing dates, please complete a publication brief, which provides
important information about the timing and scope of your project. Email the
completed brief to s 22
For Markets Group documents, complete the information asked for on that
team’s Communications Hub.
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B Fol ow ASIC style conventions
This section gives broad guidance on ASIC style conventions. Our style
generally conforms to the style set out in the Australian Government
Style
manual, but includes some specific style variations for ASIC regulatory
documents. The
Style manual was released in September 2020 in digital
format only.
Make sure your punctuation, spelling, grammar and capitalisation are correct
and consistent throughout your document.
The guidance in this section relates to:
shortened forms
the ASIC logo
capitalisation (i.e. when to use capitals)
citing documents, webpages and websites, cases and judicial officers,
legislation and components of legislation, and standards (e.g. Australian
accounting standards)
correspondence (i.e. emails and letters)
forms of address (i.e. how we refer to ourselves and others, such as the
Australian Government and Treasury)
hyperlinks
lists, including how to punctuate different types of lists
numbers, currency, dates and times
punctuation
spelling, including a list of commonly misspelled words, and
tables, graphs, diagrams and infographics.
For examples of specific styles, see also the A to Z of ASIC style.
For graphic design style guidelines, including more information on the
correct use of the ASIC logo, check ASIC’s visual identity guidelines on the
ASIC corporate design site on SharePoint.
Shortened forms
Write a term in full the first time you use it in a document, followed by its
shortened form in round brackets – for example:
You must apply for an Australian financial services (AFS) licence.
Section 235 of the
Corporations Act 2001 (Corporations Act) …
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If the term is only mentioned once in the document, you do not need to
include the shortened form, unless this is the more commonly used term
(e.g. CSIRO).
Do not add a full stop after a shortened form, except for Latin shortened
forms such as ‘e.g.’ and ‘i.e.’. (avoid using other Latin forms like ‘cf.’ and
‘etc.’).
For more information, see Abbreviations and Acronyms and initialisms in
the
Style manual.
Use of ‘a’ or ‘an’ before an acronym
Let the spoken form be your guide (e.g. an MOU, a PDS, an SOA). For
plurals of acronyms, add lowercase ‘s’ (e.g. SELs). Do not use an apostrophe
unless the acronym is possessive (e.g. an SEL’s position description).
States and territories
Use the following shortened forms in tables, graphs and the jurisdiction of
legislation: ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic and WA. However, on
envelopes and packages, use ACT, NSW, NT, QLD, SA, TAS, VIC and WA
to comply with Australia Post clean mail requirements.
ASIC logo
The ASIC logo has minimum size restrictions and prescribed colours to
ensure that it is consistent and easy to read. The ASIC visual identity
guidelines set out the conditions for use of our logo. The Design team can
supply the logo in the appropriate file formats for print and electronic
publishing. You can download the guidelines and submit a request for the
logo, including for use by other organisations, through the ASIC corporate
design site.
Capitalisation
Use minimal capitalisation. Use initial capitals for proper nouns, specific
titles (e.g. Commissioner Hughes) and words that need to be distinguished
from their generic meaning (e.g. Act or Bill). Words such as ‘court’ or
‘board’ do not need to be capitalised unless they form part of the official
name (e.g. ‘Federal Court’, but ‘the court’). See also the A to Z of ASIC
style.
For headings, subheadings and titles of publications, use ‘sentence case’.
This means using initial capitals for the first word and any words that are
normally capitalised – for example:
Purpose of this report (a heading)
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The title does not need to be spelt out in full in media releases
(e.g. Corporations Act or ASIC Act can be used in this context).
The title of a Bill should not be in italics.
If citing the jurisdiction, this should be abbreviated and placed in round
brackets after the title. Shortened forms for jurisdictions are: ACT, Cth,
NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic and WA. If all legislation cited within a
document is Commonwealth law, and this is clear, the ‘(Cth)’ jurisdiction
may be omitted.
Cite the titles of overseas Acts in the same way as Australian legislation, but
always cite the jurisdiction (e.g. the
Financial Services Act 2012 (UK)).
Citing Acts and Bil s in the ‘Related information’
Use the title in full when listing the Act in the ‘Related information’.
Titles of regulations, rules and instruments
The titles of delegated legislation, such as regulations, ASIC market integrity
rules and ASIC instruments, should be set in italics – for example:
Corporations Regulations 2001
ASIC Market Integrity Rules (Securities Markets) 2017, and
ASIC Corporations (Cash Settlement Fact Sheet) Instrument 2022/59.
For more on how to cite ASIC rules and legislative instruments, including
shortened forms, see Table 5.
Citing regulations, rules and instruments in the ‘Related information’
Use the title in full when listing delegated legislation in the ‘Related
information’. List legislative instruments in chronological order.
Shortened forms for components of legislation
In regulatory documents (except information sheets), use the shortened
forms in Table 8, except at the start of a sentence – for example:
In s122 of the Corporations Act …
Section 122(3) of the Corporations Act requires …
Note: In information sheets, components of legislation are spelled out for accessibility
reasons (information sheets are published as webpages).
Components should reflect the order of the legislation (e.g. Pt 1.2, Div 2,
s12). If citing both the section and the Act, cite the section first and then the
Act (e.g. ‘see s12 of the National Credit Act’). For more information, see
Legal material in the
Style manual.
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Figure 1: Sample letter
s 47E (d)
s 47E (d)
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Email addresses should be linked. Links are formatted automatically when
they are live, so do not underline or change the font colour to try to apply
this manually.
Links to documents
When linking to a document, link to the landing page for the document. For
example, a link to RG 166 should take the user to the guide’s landing page
on our website. If a document does not have a landing page, you will need to
also provide the type and size of the file in round brackets – for example,
‘(PDF 651 KB)’.
If you are linking to multiple documents that share a landing page (e.g. the
IOSCO public reports), you can include a sentence such as ‘You can
download these reports from the IOSCO website’ at the end of the list of
documents, instead of adding a link to every document.
For more on links to documents, see Citing ASIC and non-ASIC documents,
webpages and websites. See also Links in the
Style manual.
Lists
Lists help break up large chunks of text and improve clarity. Lists can:
draw the eye to key points, enabling the reader to ‘skim’ the text
break up a long sentence comprising several ideas or facts, and
make instructions easier to follow because the sequence of actions
is obvious.
Use a consistent grammatical pattern or structure for list items – for
example, all gerunds, statements, directions or questions.
Try to use no more than two levels in your list because multi-level lists can
be hard to follow. For lengthy lists, consider other formatting options, such
as subheadings with paragraphs or a table. For more information, see Lists in
the
Style manual.
Lists in regulatory documents (regulatory guides, consultation papers and
reports) are always numbered (e.g. (a), (b), (c)) because the paragraphs
themselves are numbered. For other documents, bullet points are preferable
to numbered lists. Numbers or letters should be reserved for ‘step-by-step’
instructions or when an individual item needs to be referred to later in the
document.
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Numbers, currency, dates and times
Numbers
Spell out zero to nine, except for percentages, decimals, currency,
measurements and time (e.g. one person, 1 metre, 6 months). Use numerals
in graphs, diagrams and columns of data in tables. Use words for numbers in
figures of speech (e.g. ‘Let’s take five’).
For 10 and over, use numerals, except at the start of a sentence where
numbers should be spelt out. If there is a series of numbers in a sentence that
includes numbers less than 10 and 10 or more, use all numerals (e.g.
‘children aged 7, 9 and 11’).
Insert a non-breaking space (Ctrl + Shift + Spacebar) between a number and
what it qualifies (e.g. 12°months).
Always double-check your figures before publication (e.g. make sure
percentages add up to 100), and check that numbers used in the text
correspond with those used in your tables and graphs.
Also note the following:
insert a comma in four-digit numbers (5,000)
right align columns of numbers in tables
use 5% (not ‘per cent’)
use 20-year-old person (with hyphens)
spell out fractions and hyphenate them (e.g. three-quarters)
use a colon without spaces in a ratio (e.g. 2:6), and
use an unspaced en dash (in MS Word, Ctrl + Minus sign on the numeric
keypad) for spans of figures (e.g. pp 402–405) and do not repeat the unit
(e.g. 2–5%), except in the case of currency (e.g. $15,000–$25,000) and
Reg Doc paragraph numbers (e.g. RG 166.168–RG 166.169).
For spans of page numbers, use full digits rather than minimum digits in the
second part of the span (e.g. pp 12–18, 28–29, 197–202 and 432–439).
Ordinal numbers
For ordinal numbers (e.g. ‘first’, ‘second’), use words rather than numerals
for numbers up to nine and for large round numbers (e.g. the third example,
the 12th recommendation). If you need to use numerals to represent an
ordinal number, ensure that the suffix is in normal font size, rather than
superscript (e.g. 10th, not 10th).
Do not add ‘ly’ to the end of ordinal numbers. For example, use ‘first’,
‘second’ and ‘third’ – not ‘firstly’, ‘secondly’ and ‘thirdly’. Ideally, use a
numbered list or link sentences by using words such as ‘next’ and ‘then’
instead of using ordinal numbers to order points in general text.
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Currency
Express Australian dollars as numerals preceded by the dollar symbol
(e.g. $15, $15.50, $0.05). Do not include cents if it is a whole dollar
(i.e. $540, not $540.00), unless required in a column of data in a table.
If appropriate, dollar figures should be rounded to the nearest dollar
(e.g. $5,718, not $5,718.29), and large dollar figures should be rounded to
one or two decimal places (e.g. $5.2 million, not $5,236,789). Whatever
number of decimal places is chosen, it should be used consistently.
Use A$10 when the currency needs to be distinguished from other currencies
(e.g. US$10 or NZ$10). If used consistently, you can use the three-letter
international standard code instead (e.g. AUD10 and USD10). The three-
letter codes can also be used if your document refers to non-dollar currencies
(e.g. EUR10 and GBP10). There is no space between the symbol or code and
the amount (e.g. A$10 or AUD10).
Spell national currencies out in full if not referring to a specific amount
(e.g. ‘the Australian dollar has fallen steadily against the US dollar’). Use
lower case when referring to national currencies (e.g. US dollar, euro, baht).
Dates and times
Express dates in the format ‘1 October 2023’. Do not use ‘1st October 2023’,
‘October 1, 2023’ or ‘1/10/23’. Do not use a comma or other punctuation
when giving a day with a date (e.g. Sunday 1 October 2023).
Use a non-breaking space (Ctrl + Shift + Spacebar) between the day and the
month to ensure that these do not break over two lines.
For plurals of decades, add an ‘s’ without an apostrophe (e.g. 2020s).
Use a hyphen between a prefix and the year (e.g. mid-2023). However, note
‘early 2023’ and ‘late 2023’.
Use an en dash with no spaces for spans of years in table and figures
(e.g. 2023–24). In text, title and headings (where space allows), do not use
an en dash to describe spans of years (unless they are financial years).
Instead, use the words ‘between’ and ‘and’ or ‘from’ and ‘to’ (e.g. ‘between
2023 and 2025’, not ‘between 2023–25’). For financial years, use ‘2023–24’,
rather than ‘2023/24’.
The time of day is given as am or pm with a space after the number (e.g.
6 pm). Use a full stop if including the minutes (e.g. 6.50 am).
For more information on numbers, currency, dates and times, see Numbers
and measurement and Dates and time in the
Style manual.
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Table 15: Recommended colours for tables, graphs and diagrams for
internal and external documents
s 47E (d)
Table 16: Recommended colours for tables, graphs and diagrams in
internal documents only
s 47E (d)
Table 17: Recommended colours for the Reg Docs template
s 47E (d)
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C A to Z of ASIC style
This A to Z of ASIC style includes our preferred spellings, terminology,
capitalisation and shortened forms. Our style generally conforms to the style
set out in the Australian Government
Style manual.
For words not listed, the spelling preference is the first-mentioned option in
the
Macquarie dictionary.
For all shortened forms listed, spell out the first reference, as indicated
(including the use of capitals), and include the shortened form in round
brackets after the spelt-out term (e.g. Australian financial services (AFS)
licence). See also Shortened forms.
AA Fund Assetless Administration Fund
Financial Reporting Standards
AASB Australian Accounting Standards Board;
algorithmic trading Spel out; do not use ‘AT’
see also Citing standards
am Not ‘a.m.’; leave space before (e.g. 7 am)
AAT Administrative Appeals Tribunal
among Not ‘amongst’
ABA Australian Banking Association
annual report; annual return Lower case, except
ABN Australian Business Number
if a title (e.g. ASIC’s
Annual Report 2022–23)
Aborigine; ATSI Do not use;
see also Write
any one; anyone ’Any one’ refers to a number;
respectful y about Indigenous peoples
‘anyone’ refers to anybody
ACCC Australian Competition and Consumer
AOP automated order processing
Commission
app Shortened form for computer application, but
acknowledgement Not ‘acknowledgment’
do not spell out first reference
ACL, AFSL and AML Do not use; see ‘Australian
appendices Not ‘appendixes’
credit licence’, ‘AFS licence’ and ‘Australian
approved product list Note ‘product’ is singular
market licence’
APPs Australian Privacy Principles
ACNC Australian Charities and Not-for-profits
APRA Australian Prudential Regulation Authority
Commission
APRA–ASIC MOU Shortened form for the
Act Upper case;
see als
o Citing legislation and
Memorandum of Understanding between the
components of legislation
Australian Prudential Regulation Authority and
Acting Upper case when referring to a specific
ASIC
title (e.g. Acting Regional Commissioner)
APRA-regulated insurer Hyphenate
add-on insurance Hyphenate
APS Australian Public Service
ADF approved deposit fund
ARBN Australian Registered Body Number
ADI authorised deposit-taking institution
ARITA Australian Restructuring Insolvency and
ADR American depositary receipt
Turnaround Association
adviser Not ‘advisor’
arm’s length Apostrophe after ‘m’
AFCA Australian Financial Complaints Authority
Articles of Association Upper case
AFS licence Australian financial services licence;
Asia–Pacific Use an unspaced en dash, not a
do not use ‘AFSL’
hyphen
AFSA Australian Financial Security Authority
Asia Region Funds Passport Note ‘Region’, not
AGM annual general meeting
‘Regional’; do not use ARFP
AICD Australian Institute of Company Directors
ASIC See Forms of address: How we refer to
AIFRS Australian equivalents to International
ourselves and others
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ASIC Act Shortened form for the
Australian
Australian Securities Exchange Use ‘ASX’ for
Securities and Investments Commission Act
the exchange market operated by ASX Limited
2001;
see also Citing legislation and
banned and disqualified register; banned and
components of legislation
disqualified persons Use lower case
ASIC Annual Forum Use initial capitals
-based Hyphenate if adjectival (e.g. risk-based
ASIC Connect Two words; use initial capitals
approach)
ASIC industry funding Lower case
BBSW Australian bank bil swap rate
ASIC offices See Forms of address: How we refer
BEAR Banking Executive Accountability Regime
to ourselves and others
benchmark Only use upper case if referring to a
ASIC Regulatory Portal Use initial capitals; can
specific benchmark (e.g. Benchmark 1)
use ‘portal’ after first reference
benefited Use one ‘t’
ASIC staff/teams See Forms of address: How we
best execution No hyphen
refer to ourselves and others
best interests duty Note ‘interests’ is plural
ASX Use ASX or ‘the ASX market’ (not ‘the ASX’
or ‘the Exchange’)
biannual Avoid using; use twice yearly, six
monthly or half-yearly instead
ASX 24 Use ASX 24 or ‘the ASX 24 market’; do
not use ‘ASX 24’ for the market operator
bid–ask spread Use an en dash, not a hyphen
ASX 200 Insert a space between ‘ASX’ and ‘200’
Bill Upper case; the title is not italics (e.g.
Regulation of Genetic Material Bil 2000);
see
ASX Operating Rules Use initial capitals
also Citing legislation and components of
ASX SPI 200 Index Future Can use ‘SPI Future’
legislation
after first reference
blockchain One word
ASX-listed Hyphenate
BNPL Use only for BNPL Code, otherwise spell
ATO Australian Taxation Office
out;
see ‘buy now pay later’
Attorney-General Use Australian Government
body corporate Lower case; use ‘bodies
Attorney-General, not Commonwealth or
corporate’ for plural
Federal Attorney-General; use Attorneys-
bondholder One word
General for plural
book up Two words; no hyphen
AUASB Auditing and Assurance Standards Board
bp; bps basis points – ‘bp’ (singular) or ‘bps’
auditor Lower case
(plural); insert a space between the figure and
AUSkey One word
the unit (e.g. 12 bps)
AUSTRAC Australian Transaction Reports and
breakdown One word when used as a noun (e.g.
Analysis Centre
cost breakdown); two words when used as a
Australian Consumer Law Use initial capitals
verb (e.g. ‘to break down barriers’)
Australian credit licence Spell out first reference
broker–dealer Use an en dash, not a hyphen
as ‘Australian credit licence (credit licence)’;
brokers licence No apostrophe
then use shortened form (i.e. credit licence);
Budget; budget Use initial capitals for a
do not use ‘ACL’
government budget but lower case for generic
Australian Financial Attitudes and Behaviour
uses
Tracker Use initial capitals; use ‘Tracker’ for
Business Names Register Use initial capitals
subsequent references; use Wave 1, Wave 2,
Wave 3, Wave 4, and so on
buy-back Hyphenate when used as a noun (e.g.
‘share buy-back’); two words when used as a
Australian Government See Forms of address:
verb (e.g. ‘you can buy back the shares’)
How we refer to ourselves and others
buy now pay later No comma
Australian market licence Spell out first
reference as ‘Australian market licence’; then
buy-side Hyphenate
use the shortened form (i.e. market licence);
CA ANZ Chartered Accountants Australia and
do not use ‘AML’; do not use ‘Australian
New Zealand
market licensee’ – use ‘market licensee’ or
CADB Companies Auditors Disciplinary Board
‘holder of a market licence’
CALD culturally and linguistically diverse
Australian passport fund Lower case
case-by-case Hyphenate
Australian Passport Rules Use initial capitals
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cash flow Two words
Company Statement Use initial capitals
CCI consumer credit insurance
complaint management Under the Australian/New
CCIV corporate collective investment vehicle
Zealand Standard AS/NZS 10002:2014
CCM program Close and Continuous Monitoring
Guidelines for complaint management in
program
organizations, we refer to ‘complaint
management’ rather than ‘complaints handling’.
CDI An Australian CDI is a CHESS Depositary
Note that ‘complaint’ is singular
Interest (traded on ASX) – note the ‘-ary’
ending; a UK CDI is a CREST Depository
complaints officer Note that ‘complaints’ is plural
Interest (traded on the London Stock
conflicts management Note that ‘conflicts’ is
Exchange). Use initial capitals
plural
centre Not ‘center’
conflicts of interest Note if singular or plural –
CEO chief executive officer; no need to spell out at
‘conflicts of interest exist’ (plural) or ‘a conflict
first reference
of interest exists’ (singular)
CFD contract for difference
cooling-off Hyphenate when used as an adjective
(e.g. cooling-off period)
CFO chief financial officer
cooperate; cooperation; coordinate No hyphen
CGS Commonwealth Government Security
corporate key Lower case
Chair/Deputy Chair Upper case if referring to a
particular chair or deputy chair (e.g. Chair
Corporations Act Shortened form for the
Joseph Longo); if general y referring to the
Corporations Act 2001;
see also Citing
position, can use ‘chair’ or ‘deputy chair’
legislation and components of legislation
check box Two words
cost–benefit Use an en dash, not a hyphen
checklist One word
cost-effective Hyphenate
CHESS Clearing House Electronic Subregister
court Lower case, unless talking about a specific
System
court (e.g. Federal Court); cite as Supreme
Court (NSW), District Court (SA), with the
Chi-X Hyphenate; use initial capitals
jurisdiction abbreviated in round brackets
choice product no initial capital
court enforceable undertaking Spell out; do not
CLOB central limit order book
use ‘CEU’ or ‘EU’
Co Shortened form for ‘Company’; do not add a
COVID-19 pandemic Use capitals for ‘COVID-19’
full stop at the end,
CPA Australia Two words
co-director, co-location, co-debtor Hyphenate
CPD continuing professional development
combating Use one ‘t’
CRA credit rating agency
Commission See Forms of address: How we
Credit Guide Use initial capitals
refer to ourselves and others
credit licence Shortened form of ‘Australian credit
common law Lower case
licence’, do not use ‘ACL’
Commonwealth See Forms of address: How we
credit service provider Not ‘credit services
refer to ourselves and others
provider’
Commonwealth Government Use ‘Australian
criteria; criterion Use ‘criteria’ for plural and
Government’;
see also Forms of address: How
‘criterion’ for singular
we refer to ourselves and others
cross-border Hyphenate
company director Lower case
cross-guarantee Hyphenate
company names No space between initials in
names, and no ful stops (e.g. BHP). Also note:
crowd-sourced funding Spel out unless used as
an adjective (e.g. CSF regime); avoid ‘crowd-
• Proprietary Limited (Pty Ltd can be used)
funding’ unless referring to a ‘crowd-funding
• in liquidation (in liq)
service’ authorisation
• no-liability company (NL)
Crown Use initial capital
• Limited (Ltd)
cryptocurrency One word; note that ‘crypto-
• Company (Co)
assets’ is used as a more general term;
cryptocurrency is a type of crypto-asset
• Corporation (do not abbreviate)
CS facility clearing and settlement facility
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Cth Shortened form for Commonwealth
referring to a specific disclosure principle (e.g.
(e.g.
Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (Cth));
‘disclosing against Disclosure Principle 1’)
see also Citing legislation and components of
dispatch Not ‘despatch’
legislation
DLT distributed ledger technology
Customer Contact Centre Use initial capitals
DOCA deed of company arrangement
cyber attack Two words; no hyphen; can use
‘malicious cyber activity’ instead
dos and don’ts No apostrophe before ‘s’
cyber resilience; cyber risk; cyber security
dual-listed Hyphenate
Two words, no hyphen
EDR external dispute resolution; do not use
dashboard One word
‘EDRS’
data Use for singular (i.e. not ‘datum’) and plural,
e.g. Use ‘e.g.’ instead of ‘for example’ in tables and
and treat as singular when conjugating with a
in text within round brackets (no comma after).
verb (e.g. ‘the data shows that …’)
Note full stops. Use ‘for example’ followed by a
comma at the beginning of a sentence and in
data.gov.au This is the name of the site (e.g. the
text that is not in round brackets
data.gov.au team)
e-learning Use lower case ‘e’ and hyphenate
dataset One word
electronic lodgement; electronic publishing
DEA direct electronic access
Use ‘online’ instead
debenture holder Two words
email no hyphen
decision maker; decision making No hyphen,
enquire; enquiry Use ‘inquire’ or ‘inquiry’
but hyphenate ‘decision making’ when used as
an adjective (e.g. decision-making process)
ePayments Code ’ePayments’ is one word
deep dive Two words; do not use as a verb
ERS enhanced regulatory sandbox
default judgment No ‘e’ in ‘judgment’ in this context
etc. Avoid using; do not use in a list that starts ‘for
example’; note full stop
defendant The spelling ends in ‘ant’ for the
description of the party against whom a claim
ETF exchange traded fund
or charge is brought in a proceeding
ETP exchange traded product
defined-benefit scheme Hyphenate
EU Use ‘European Union’ as a noun and ‘EU’ as
de-identify Hyphenate
an adjective
de-list Hyphenate
exchange market Use ‘exchange market’ in
preference to ‘stock market’ or ‘share market’
dependant; dependent ‘Dependant’ means a
person who is supported by someone else.
excl May be used for ‘excluding’ in graphs; do not
‘Dependent’ is an adjective that means relying
add a full stop at the end
on something
expert report Use ‘expert report’ or ‘expert
deposit taking Hyphenate when used as an
reports’; expert is singular
adjective (e.g. deposit-taking institution)
Explanatory Memorandum Use initial capitals
depository; depositary Use ‘custodial or
when referring to a specific explanatory
depository services’, ‘depositary of a CCIV’,
memorandum
‘CHESS depositary interests’, ‘American
ext Shortened form for (telephone) extension; do
depositary receipts’ and ‘UK CREST
not add a full stop at the end
depository interests’
factsheet One word
design and distribution obligations Do not use
FAQs No apostrophe before ‘s’
‘DDO’
FAR Financial Accountability Regime
desk-based surveil ance Hyphenate
FASEA Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics
dialogue Not ‘dialog’
Authority
DIN Do not use; spel out in full ‘director
fast-track; fast-tracked Hyphenate
identification number’
fax Shortened form for ‘facsimile’
director Lower case, except if referring to a
FCA Financial Conduct Authority (UK)
specific director (e.g. Jane Bloggs, Director)
FDS fee disclosure statement
directors’ duties Note apostrophe after ‘s’
Federal Court Refer to as ‘the Federal Court’, not
disclosure principle Only use upper case if
the ‘Federal Court of Australia’
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FFSP foreign financial services provider
high-level; high-quality; high-risk Hyphenate
FICC fixed income, currencies and commodities
when used as an adjective (e.g. a high-risk
financial advisers register Lower case and plural
strategy, but note ‘higher risk strategy’)
‘advisers’
His Honour; Her Honour Use capital ‘H’
financial services provider Not ‘financial service
historical Do not use ‘historic’, which means
provider’
momentous, when referring to historical data
Financial Services Royal Commission Royal
homepage Lower case; one word
Commission into Misconduct in the Banking,
Hon; Honourable Do not add a full stop after the
Superannuation and Financial Services
shortened form (e.g. the Hon John Smith)
Industry; do not use ‘FSRC’ or ‘Banking Royal
hyperlink One word; or use ‘link’ if appropriate
Commission’
IDPS investor directed portfolio service; also
Financial System Inquiry Use initial capitals and
IDPS-like scheme
always spell out
IDPS Guide Use initial capitals
fintech One word; lower case; use ‘Fintech’ if
used at the start of a sentence
IDR internal dispute resolution
first-hand Hyphenate
i.e. Use instead of ‘that is’ in tables and in text
within round brackets (no comma after). Note
FIX protocol Financial Information eXchange
ful stops. Use ‘that is’ at the start of a
protocol
sentence or in text that is not in round brackets
focusing; focused One ‘s’
IFAC International Federation of Accountants
FOFA Future of Financial Advice
IFRS International Financial Reporting Standards
follow-up Hyphenate when used as an adjective
impact Avoid using as verb; use ‘to affect’ instead
(e.g. follow-up activity) or a noun (e.g. ‘this is a
follow-up’); no hyphen when used as a verb
in liq Shortened form for ‘in liquidation’
(e.g. to follow up a report)
in so far Not ‘insofar’, but try to avoid
foreign-owned Hyphenate (e.g. foreign-owned
incl May be used for ‘including’ in graphs; do not
bank), but not in the context of ‘the bank was
use a full stop at the end
foreign owned’
Indigenous; indigenous Capitalise when
forum; forums Do not use ‘fora’ for the plural
referring to any Indigenous peoples. Only use
FSCP Financial Services and Credit Panel
indigenous with a lower case ‘i’ to generally
refer to indigenous plant and animal species
FSG Financial Services Guide
throughout the world. For information on how
FTE ful -time equivalent
to write about Indigenous peoples of Australia,
full time No hyphen except when used as an
see Write respectfully about Indigenous peoples
adjective (e.g. full-time employee)
in-house Hyphenate
fundraising One word
initials Do not use ful stops or a space (e.g.
FY Spell out in full (e.g. in the 2020–21 financial
JB Jones)
year), except in tables and graphs (e.g.
Innovation Hub Use initial capitals
FY 2020–21)
inquire; inquiry Not ‘enquire’ or ‘enquiry’
G20 No hyphen and no space
insurtech One word; lower case; use Insurtech if
gatekeeper One word
used at the start of a sentence
global financial crisis Lower case; avoid using
inter alia Use ‘among other things’
GFC
internet Lower case
goodwil One word
intraday One word
Government See Forms of address: How we refer
intranet Lower case
to ourselves and others
IOSCO International Organization of Securities
guideline One word
Commissions; note ‘z’ in ‘Organization’
half-year; half-yearly Hyphenate
IPO initial public offering
HFT high-frequency trading; however, spell out
jail; jailed Not ‘gaol’ or ‘gaoled’
high-frequency traders (i.e. do not use HFTs)
judgement; judgment Use ‘judgement’ with an ‘e’
High Court Refer to as the ‘High Court’, not the
for all common meanings and ‘judgment’
‘High Court of Australia’
without an ‘e’ for judicial decisions
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KB (kilobytes) Use upper case and a non-
market maker No hyphen
breaking space after the numeral (e.g. 655 KB)
marketplace One word
last Avoid using ‘last’ to mean ‘most recent’; use
MB (megabytes) Use upper case and a non-
‘past’, ‘previous’ or ‘latest’ instead (e.g. ‘you
breaking space after the numeral (e.g.
must submit your latest bank statement from
1.66 MB)
the previous financial year’)
MDA managed discretionary account
later; latter Use ‘later’ for ‘at a time in the future’;
use ‘latter’ for ‘the last mentioned’
MDP Markets Disciplinary Panel
lead-up; lead up Hyphenate when used as a
MECS market entity compliance system
noun (e.g. ‘in the lead-up to the end of the
memorandum; memoranda Use ‘memoranda’ as
financial year’); two words when used as a
the plural of ‘memorandum’
verb (e.g. to lead up to an event)
midpoint No hyphen
led Past tense of ‘to lead’
MiFID Markets in Financial Instruments Directive
lenders mortgage insurance No apostrophe
Milba Djunga Two words
licence; license ’Licence’ is the noun (e.g. AFS
mis-selling Hyphenate
licence) and ‘license’ is the verb (e.g. ‘they will
misstatement One word
license her to fish’)
mob Shortened form for mobile telephone number
licensed advisory business ’s’ not ‘c’ in licensed
used to introduce a number; add a colon at the
licensee; licensing ’s’ not ‘c’; ‘licensee’ is a
end; do not use shortened form within a
singular entity and should be referred to as ‘it’
sentence
rather than ‘they’
money Not ‘monies’ or ‘moneys’
limit up–limit down Use an en dash, not a
Moneysmart One word; upper case ‘M’
hyphen
MOU Memorandum of Understanding; do not use
lodgement Not ‘lodgment’
‘MoU’
long term Do not hyphenate when used as a
Mr, Ms, Dr No full stop
noun (e.g. in the long term), but hyphenate
when used as an adjective (e.g. long-term
multi-asset; multi-trust; multi-tiered Hyphenate
goal, but note ‘longer term goal’)
multilateral; multimarket; multimillion No
longstanding One word
hyphen
look-through gearing ratio Hyphenate
myASIC One word
low-latency; low-risk; low-quality Hyphenate
MySuper product ’MySuper’ is one word
when used as an adjective (but note ‘lower
Nasdaq Do not use ‘NASDAQ’
quality items’)
National Credit Act Shortened form for the
Ltd Shortened form for ‘Limited’ in a company
National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009;
name
see also Citing legislation and components of
LVR loan-to-valuation ratio
legislation
maker–taker pricing Use an en dash, not a
National Credit Code (or the Code) Shortened
hyphen
form for the National Credit Code at Sch 1 to
the National Credit Act
managed investment scheme Not ‘managed
investments scheme’; do not use ‘MIS’
National Financial Capability Strategy Use
initial capitals
managing director Lower case if referring to this
position in general; upper case if referring to a
no May be used for ‘number’ in graphs and tables;
specific person
be careful to use accurately in proper names
(e.g. in company name: Trust Fund No 1); do
mark to market; marked to market These are
not add a full stop at the end
technical expressions and are correct
no-action letter Hyphenate
market competition Use singular ‘market’; also
‘market regulation’ and ‘market supervision’
no-liability Hyphenate when used as an adjective
(e.g. no-liability company)
market integrity rules Use lower case;
see also
Citing legislation and components of legislation
non- Hyphenate (e.g. non-compliance)
market licence Shortened form for ‘Australian
non-liquid Hyphenate; can also say ‘non-liquid
market licence’; do not use ‘AML’
(also referred to as il iquid)’ and then use the
term ‘illiquid’
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no-one Hyphenate
introduce a number; add a colon at the end; do
North Queensland Use initial capitals
not use ‘tel’; do not add a ful stop at the end
note holder Two words
PI insurance professional indemnity insurance
not-for-profit Hyphenate when used as an
PJC Parliamentary Joint Committee
adjective (e.g. not-for-profit sector)
pleaded Use ‘pleaded’ (not ‘pled’) for past tense
NTA net tangible assets
of ‘plead’
NZ Use ‘New Zealand’ as a noun and ‘NZ’ as an
pm Not ‘p.m.’; leave space before (e.g. 10 pm)
adjective
policy maker; policy making Two words
NZAUConnect One word
policyholder One word
OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation
post- Use ‘after’ when possible (e.g. ‘after
and Development
completing the form’);
see also ‘pre-’
Office of Enforcement Use initial capitals
postnominals These appear after the recipient’s
Office of the Whistleblower Use initial capitals
name in order of precedence (e.g.
officeholder One word
Ms Margaret Smith MBE, OAM)
off-market; off-order book Hyphenate
post-vetting Hyphenate
ongoing disclosure ’Ongoing’ is one word; use
practising accountants/lawyers ’s’ not ‘c’
singular ‘disclosure’
pre- Use ‘before’ when possible (e.g. ‘before and
on-lend; on-market; on-order book; on-site
after the crisis’);
see also ‘post-’
Hyphenate
precondition; predetermined; prerequisite;
online One word
preset One word
open banking Lower case
pre-empt Hyphenate
options Use ‘options over’ a product; ‘option
pre-filled Use instead of ‘pre-populated’
holder’ is two words
pre-trade or post-trade Hyphenate; do not use
organise; organisations Use ‘s’, but use exact
‘pre- and post-trade’
spelling for proper names (e.g. International
price sensitive Hyphenate when used as an
Organization of Securities Commissions)
adjective (e.g. price-sensitive information)
OTC over the counter; for first reference, use
price–time priority Use an en dash, not a hyphen
hyphens if adjectival (e.g. over-the-counter
pro rata Two words
(OTC) offer)
proactive One word
p; pp Shortened form for page or pages (e.g.
product intervention order Lower case; do not
p 12; pp 12–17); note space after p and pp
use ‘PIO’
and no full stops
product intervention power Lower case; do not
passport Do not use as a verb (e.g. ‘passport
use ‘PIP’
into’)
program Not ‘programme’, unless it is part of a
part-time Hyphenate when used as an adjective
proper title
(e.g. part-time employee), but say ‘someone
who works part time’
Pty Shortened form for ‘Proprietary’ in company
name
payday lenders ’payday’ is one word
PYSP reforms Protecting Your Super Package
PDS Product Disclosure Statement
reforms
people Use instead of ‘persons’, unless the
RBA Reserve Bank of Australia
person can possibly be a company, in which
case leave as ‘persons’
real economy Use lower case
P/E ratio price/earnings ratio
reapply; reappoint; reclassify; reissue No
hyphen
% Use instead of per cent (e.g. 5%)
record keeping Only hyphenate when used as
performance right Use ‘performance right in
an adjective (e.g. record-keeping obligations)
relation to’ a product
Registered Agent; Registered Office Use initial
period ending Not ‘period ended’
capitals
personal advice Not ‘personal financial advice’
regtech One word, lower case; use ‘Regtech’ if
ph Shortened form for ‘telephone’ used to
used at the start of a sentence
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Regulatory Transformation Program Use initial
smartphone One word
capitals
SME small to medium enterprise or small to
reinvest; reissue No hyphen
medium-sized enterprise
-related Hyphenate if adjectival (e.g. activity-
SMSF self-managed superannuation fund
related offence)
SOA Statement of Advice
related party transactions No hyphen
so-called Hyphenate
reprint; resend; resubmit No hyphen
SSX Sydney Stock Exchange Limited or the
responsible entity Lower case; do not use ‘RE’
exchange market operated by SSX
re-use Hyphenate
standalone One word
risk–return; risk–reward Use an en dash, which
start-up Hyphenate; avoid ‘start-up’ by itself at
replaces ‘and’
first reference (e.g. use ‘start-up business’)
ROA Record of Advice
states and territories Lower case; for shortened
robo-advice; robo-adviser Hyphenate
forms,
see Shortened forms
roundtable One word
streamline One word
Royal Commission into Misconduct in the
Stronger Super reforms Use initial capitals
Banking, Superannuation and Financial
subcommittee; subcustodian; sublease;
Services Industry See ‘Financial Services
subprime; subrule One word
Royal Commission’ above
sub-fund Hyphenate
RSE registrable superannuation entity
sub-underwriting Hyphenate
RTO registered training organisation
superannuation Spell out – do not use ‘super’,
scrip As in ‘share scrip’, not ‘script’
but note Stronger Super reforms and
securities licensing No apostrophe
Protecting Your Super Package reforms
self- Hyphenate (e.g. self-managed
suptech One word; lower case; use Suptech if
superannuation fund, self-regulation)
used at the start of a sentence
Senate Economics References Committee Use
takeover One word
initial capitals; note that ‘References’ is plural
task force Two words
shareholder; shareholdings One word
thank you Two words
short sel ing No hyphen, even when used as an
third party or parties Only hyphenate when used
adjective
as an adjective (e.g. third-party adviser)
shorter PDS regime shorter Product Disclosure
Tier 1 products; Tier 2 products Upper case for
Statement regime (a regime that prescribes
‘Tier’
the content and length of the PDS for certain
time-bands Hyphenate
financial products)
timeframe One word
Short-Form PDS Short-Form Product Disclosure
Statement (issuers may give retail clients a
time-sharing scheme Hyphenate; note that the
‘Short-Form PDS’ (unless excluded) as long as
term ‘timeshare’ (one word) is used in the
a full PDS is available on request)
consumer warning and in our consumer-
focused reports
short-term Hyphenate when used as an adjective
(e.g. short-term loan, but note ‘shorter term
TMD target market determination
loan’); no hyphen when used as a noun (e.g. in
TPD insurance total and permanent disability
the short term)
insurance
sign-off Hyphenate when used as a noun; two
trade Use trade ‘in’ a product ‘on’ a market
words when used as a verb (i.e. ‘to sign off’)
trademark One word
SIS Act Shortened form for the
Superannuation
trade-off Hyphenate
Industry (Supervision) Act 1993;
see also
trade-through Hyphenate
Citing legislation and components of legislation
transaction-specific Hyphenate when used as an
skill set Two words
adjective (e.g. ‘transaction-specific prospectus’)
SLF surplus liquid fund
Treasury Use a capital; not ‘The Treasury’ or ‘the
slowdown One word when used as a noun; two
Treasury’, but use ‘the Treasurer’
words when used as a verb (i.e. ‘to slow down’)
trustee Lower case
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UK Use ‘United Kingdom’ as a noun and ‘UK’ as
well- Hyphenate when used before a noun (e.g. ‘a
an adjective
wel -timed approach’)
unit holder Two words
wellbeing One word
units Use ‘units in’ a product
while Not ‘whilst’
unlicensed COI lender unlicensed carried over
whistleblower One word
instrument lender
whol y-owned Hyphenate for consistency with the
upfront One word
Corporations Act and ASIC instruments
up-to-date Only hyphenate when used as an
wide-ranging Hyphenate when used as an
adjective
adjective
US Use ‘United States’ as a noun and ‘US’ as an
wind-up; winding-up; windings-up Hyphenate
adjective
unless used as a verb (e.g. ‘to wind up a
user ID Two words
company’)
username One word
workplace One word
UTC(AUS) Use all capitals and no space between
wound-up Hyphenate when used as an adjective
‘UTC’ and ‘(AUS)’
(e.g. wound-up company); no hyphen when used
via Use ‘through’ or ‘by’ instead
as a verb (e.g. the company was wound up)
video conferencing Two words
write-down; write-off Hyphenate when used as a
noun; two words when used as a verb (e.g. ‘to
VolumeMatch Use capitals and no space
write off’)
between ‘Volume’ and ‘Match’
wrongdoing; wrongdoers One word
VWAP volume weighted average price
year-end Hyphenate; but use the term ‘year
webpage; website One word
ended 30 June 2023’
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