In business writing, currency is usually expressed in symbols and numerals (e.g. $10).

Different currencies: When writing about different currencies that use the dollar, you can use:

• a letter or letters symbolising the country followed by the $ sign (A$10, US$10)
• a three-letter country code as specified in ISO 4217:1995 (AUD10)
• $ sign followed by the country symbol ($A10). I don’t like this method as I think it is harder to read, but I see it used in some newspapers.

Millions and billions: When writing about millions and billions, many writers use the full word in the text and either m or bn in tables and brackets. For example:

$10 million ($10m)
$10 billion ($10bn)

NB: You need a space before million but not before m or bn.

Spaces or commas between large numerals: You can use spaces or commas as separators with large numerals. For example:

$10,000 or $10 000.

I think commas are more common than spaces. What do you think?

Four-digit numerals: Four-digit numerals are never separated by spaces, but some writers use a comma. For example:

$5000 or $5,000

As always, whatever style you choose, be consistent

Posted on February 17th, 2009 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized