PIPER JAFFRAY WRITING ANd STYLE GUIdE

P I P E R J A F F R A Y W R I T I N G an d S T Y L E G U I D EA RESOURCE FOR WRITERS AND PROOFREADERS10th EditionOctober 2014

academic titlesThe preferred form is to avoid abbreviations and to lowercase: bachelor’s degree,master’s degree, doctorate. Use an apostrophe in bachelor’s degree and master’sdegree. Jennifer Olson has a bachelor’s degree in finance from Smith College.HOWEVER: Master of Business Administration degree, Juris doctorate.Note: an A.B. degree is a bachelor’s degree with a classics focus; we refer to itsimply as a bachelor’s degree.Use such abbreviations as B.A., B.S., M.A., J.D., Ph.D. only when the need toidentify many individuals by degree on first reference would make the preferredform cumbersome: Rick Johnson, Ph.D., Philip Swan, J.D., and Natalie Evans, M.A.,will lead the discussion at the 9 a.m. session.When type of degree is not provided in a biography, simply graduated from andname of academic institution is acceptable.Lowercase areas of study except proper nouns: bachelor’s degree in chemistry, master’sdegree in English literature.Lowercase and italicize magna cum laude, summa cum laude, etc.Remove year(s) of graduation.(See Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts, Master of Business Administration, Ph.D.)addressesUse the abbreviations Ave., Blvd. and St. only with a numbered address:1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Always spell out Drive, Road, Alley, and Terrace.Always use numeric figures for an address number: 1 Capitol Mall.Spell out and capitalize First through Ninth when used as street names; usenumeric figures with two letters for 10th and above: 7 Fifth Ave., 100 21st St.Do not superscript st, nd, rd or th in addresses.Use the two-letter Postal Service state abbreviations only with full addressesthat include ZIP codes. When a state is mentioned in body copy, spell it out,e.g. Piper Jaffray has several offices in California. Piper Jaffray headquarters are inMinneapolis, Minnesota.(See state names. )advisor vs. adviserWhile AP style dictates adviser, we use the second dictionary spelling, advisor.ampersand (&)Ampersands are acceptable in sector and sub-sector names, e.g., clean technology& renewables, technology, media & telecommunications. Otherwise, avoid usingampersands in body copy. In company names, do not use an ampersand in placeof “and” unless it’s part of the formal name: Procter & Gamble, Wheeling & LakeErie Railway.1

billionSpell out: 3 billion, or abbreviate as 3BN or 3B. Be consistent with chosenspelling.Bachelor of Arts,Bachelor of ScienceUse bachelor’s degree as a reference to Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science,and Bachelor of Business degrees. Note that bachelor’s is not capitalized.(See academic titles)board of directors/board of trusteesAlways lowercase: He is a member of the board of directors. The Pillsbury board oftrustees meets quarterly.Plural: Smith serves on several boards of directors.Certified PublicAccountantAbbreviate: CPA, or spell out and capitalize as Certified Public Accountant. Beconsistent with chosen spelling.Chartered FinancialAnalystAbbreviate: CFA , or spell out and capitalize as Certified Financial Analyst .Be consistent with chosen spelling. Note that it needs a registered trademarksymbol except when used directly after a person’s name. John Smith is a CFA charterholder, John Smith, CFA, is an analyst.Note: a person holds a Chartered Financial Analyst designation; they are not aChartered Financial Analyst or a CFA.committeeDo not capitalize or abbreviate. Capitalize when part of a formal name: the HouseAppropriations Committee.Lowercase leadership committee, management committee, operating committee,audit committee, etc.companyThe word company is not capitalized unless it is included as part of a company’sformal name. The company will contribute 4%. The ABC Company will contribute4%. Company is also commonly capitalized in legal documents to specify thecompany involved in the legal proceeding.2

company namesFollow capitalization and punctuation of company’s registered name; e.g. use acomma before Inc. or Ltd. if the company’s legal name is registered as such.Consult official sources such as a company press release if in doubt about a formalname.Note: We do not insert a comma before Ltd.: Piper Jaffray Ltd. not Piper Jaffray, Ltd.corporationFollow registered name listed with an official source such as a news release.Abbreviate corporation as Corp. when a company or government agency uses theword at the end of its name: Gulf Oil Corp., the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.Spell out corporation when it occurs elsewhere in a name: Corporation for PublicBroadcasting.Spell out and lowercase corporation whenever it stands alone: The corporationdefends its decision to follow the policy.(See company)dashesNot to be confused with the hyphen (see hyphen), a dash is a mark of separationstronger than a comma, less formal than a colon and more relaxed than parentheses.Use a dash only when a more common mark of punctuation seems inadequate.(Source: “The Elements of Style.”)Em dashes are long dashes (—) used to set off explanatory phrases or an abruptchange: The cornerstone of this service is a comprehensive quarterly report thatanalyzes your total municipal portfolio—including bonds not held by Piper Jaffray—in greater detail than most brokerage statements.En dashes are short dashes (–) used to connect a range of things: the July–Augustissue of Fine Homebuilding, Aug. 15–17, 2006, 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.En dashes are also used to designate university locations: University of Wisconsin–Madison.Do not use an en dash in place of the word “to” when preceded with “from” or“between”: from 1968 to 1972 and between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.; not from1968–1972 and between 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.datesAlways use numeric figures, without st, nd, rd or th. (See months)3

department/groupnamesOur consistent brand focus across the firm is to brand Piper Jaffray, not individualbusiness lines, departments or employees within the firm. To that end, ourapproach is to treat such names and titles as descriptors, not formal, propernouns, using lowercase in body copy text: the Piper Jaffray financial institutionsgroup, Piper Jaffray clean technology & renewables investment banking, the PiperJaffray equity capital markets team. Jean Smith, director of Piper Jaffray operations,will attend the next meeting.Also lowercase internal elements of an organization when they have names thatare widely used generic terms: the board of directors of General Motors, the board oftrustees of Columbia University, the history department of Harvard University.HOWEVER: Capitalize the names of major subdivisions: the Pontiac Motor Divisionof General Motors.emailLowercase. No hyphen.executive teamLowercase. The Piper Jaffray executive team will present at the conference.Federal Reserve/The FedCapitalize when spelled out and when abbreviated: Fed Chairman Bernanke willspeak today.healthcareOne word, lowercase. Note: Though the current dictionary spelling is two words,health care, the financial industry generally uses “healthcare,” one word.hyphenUse a hyphen when a compound modifier (two words that are used together asan adjective) precedes a noun: high-yield products, low-risk investment, fixed-incomeportfolio, full-time assistant. Do not use a hyphen with the adverb very or withadverbs that end in -ly: very good time, wholly owned subsidiary. Do not hyphenatecompound verbs: we’ll need to check in to the hotel, log in to piperjaffray.comInc., incorporatedAbbreviate incorporated as Inc. when registered as part of a formal name withCapital IQ or other official source.InternetCapitalize. Internet is a proper noun.Jr. and Sr.Abbreviate only with full names of persons and do not precede by a comma:Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.4

leadership teamLowercase. See executive team.magazine namesCapitalize the name and place in italics. Lowercase the word magazine, unless it ispart of the publication’s formal title: Harper’s Magazine, Newsweek magazine.Check the masthead of the magazine if in doubt.managementcommitteeLowercase. See executive team.Master of Arts,Master of ScienceA master’s degree or a master’s is AP style and the preferred use in any reference.(See academic titles)Master of BusinessAdministrationDo not abbreviate in body copy: Jason Jones earned his Master of BusinessAdministration degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.mergers andacquisitions, M&AM&A is acceptable within financial industry publications; for a wider audience,spell out mergers and acquisitions.middle initialsUse them if included in a biography or other official documentation. They can bean integral part of a person’s name.Particular care should be taken to include middle initials in situations where theyhelp identify a specific individual with a common name.millionSpell out as: 4 million, or abbreviate as 4MM or 4M. Be consistent with chosenspelling.monthsCapitalize the names of months in all uses. Spell out the names of all months inall uses.When a phrase lists only a month and a year, do not separate the year with commas.January 1972 was a cold month.When a phrase refers to a month, day and year, set off the year with commas.February 14, 1987, was the target date.numbersIn body copy, spell out one through nine and use numeric figures for 10 and higher.5

namesUse last names only on second reference: James Jones is chairman and CEO ofWidget Inc. Jones graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.Use first names in internal communications.newspaper namesItalicize newspaper names, except when used in a headline.Capitalize the in a newspaper name if it is part of its formal name: The New York Times.organizations andinstitutionsCapitalize the full name of organizations and institutions: the American MedicalAssociation, General Motors Corp., the Society of Professional Journalists.Retain capitalization if Co., Corp. or a similar word is deleted from the full propername: General Motors.percentUse % symbol; do not spell out: The earnings were up 5%.Ph.D., Ph.D.sThe preferred form is to write that a person holds a doctorate and name theindividual’s area of specialty. (See academic titles)Piper JaffrayAlways two words; never use Piper alone in written communications.Do not use Piper Jaffray’s; the possessive form of our name is not legally protectedunder U.S. patent and trademark law: the Piper Jaffray technology team, not PiperJaffray’s technology team.Our various geographic/legal entities are written as follows: Piper JaffrayCompanies, Piper Jaffray & Co., Piper Jaffray Ltd., Piper Jaffray Asia.sector namesLowercase and spell out in body copy: clean technology & renewables.serial commasIf used in a simple series, no comma is needed after the final element, before theword “and”: his fixed-income portfolio may include municipal bonds, government bondsand zero-coupon bonds. Add a comma after the final element when needed for clarity.6