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Software aims to 'cut the bull'
Incentivise investors by touching base with a jargon-free outlook going forward

By Reuters Reuters

Published: Wednesday 18 June 2003

A new software program sends a clear message to corporate America: Cut the bull.

Deloitte Consulting admits it helped foster confusing, indecipherable words like "synergy,'' "paradigm'' and "extensible repository.'' But now it has decided enough is enough. On Tuesday, it released Bullfighter to help writers of business documents avoid jargon and use clear language.

"We've had it with repurposeable, value-added knowledge capital and robust, leverageable mind share,'' Deloitte Consulting partner Brian Fugere said.

Bullfighter, as the software is called, could potentially help investors spot troubled companies. Used to test language used by now-bankrupt energy trader Enron from 1999 through 2001, Fugere said the program found that "it got progressively more obscure as they got deeper and deeper into trouble."

"We think that's a good indicator of the linkage between clear and straight communications and business performance, including the issue of transparency and trust, which is such a big issue these days,'' Fugere said.

Black-and-white photographs of matadors fighting real bulls accompany the instructions.

Marketing director Chelsea Hardaway said employees had fun developing the program over nine months. They came up with about 10,000 "bullwords.'' The final version has a dictionary of 350 words and gives people the ability to add more.

"It flags your 'bullwords,' but then it gives you sort of a good-humoured lashing over why you have used those words,'' Hardaway said of the program, which works on Microsoft Word and PowerPoint documents much like those that check spelling.

The firm said employees voted "leverage'' as the most hated word, followed by "bandwidth'' and "touch base.'' Other incomprehensible words included "incentivise'' and "envisioneer.''

The program, which can be downloaded for free, was tested on statements by 30 big US companies. Retail giant Home Depot was first for clarity on the "Bull Index,'' while computer hardware and software companies suffered the lowest scores for readability.