Introduction
A business report plays a significant role for management executives because they have to make decisions based on the findings of the report. Companies and businesses use the business report for various functions depending on their industry needs and requirements. Today, we’ll discuss how to write a business report, its types, and an example of a business report.
What is a Business Report?
A business report is a document comprises of information, research finding, research data, and other details in order to help the company and management to set goals, objectives, plans, and make-decision. However, the length of the official business report depends on the topic, information, and data, and it ranges from one page to a number of pages.
Types of Business Reports
Some of the main types of business reports are as follows;
Yardstick Report
A yardstick report allows you to offer various solutions relevant to a particular situation.
Situational Report
As the name implies, a situational report focuses on the information of a particular situation of conference or an event.
Periodic Report
The periodic report allows companies to improve their plans, processes, functions, products, and services. It would check the efficiency or comprise of information like profit/loss. For instance, monthly sale reports of a retail store.
Research Studies Report
Research study report focuses on a particular problem and offers recommendations in order to solve a problem.
Feasibility Report
A feasibility report allows you to study the result of an idea and it comprises benefits of the idea, cost, and potential problems. The report would help you to find the profitability of the proposal, the feasibility of the deadline, and whether you could increase the budget or not.
Compliance Report
Businesses and companies create compliance reports when they want to prove their accountability that they investing the capital accurately and following the rules and regulations. For instance, an account consultancy firm publishes a compliance report to show that the business is obeying the federal laws.
Investigative Report
An investigative report tells the riskiness of an opportunity. It helps businesses and management to see the potential problem in the purchase or the investment. You could write an investigative report to study the problem in the merger or acquisition.
Recommendation/Justification Report
Recommendation and justification report allows you to present an idea to the management and it comprises of benefits, cost, and risk factors. For instance, you’re planning to purchase a machine for the office. Now, you have to persuade the management of your recommendations of a certain machine with strong arguments.
How to Write a Business Report
It’s time to discuss how to write a business report, some of the main steps are as follows;
Plan
When it comes to writing a business report, you should deem it as a project. First of all, you have to plan the goal that you want to achieve before conducting and start writing it. Once you plan it, then it would become easier for you to write a clear and simple style report.
Checkout Format
Many businesses and companies have got a business report format for their correspondence. Therefore, you should check the company’s record or ask someone in order to find the company’s specific report format that you could use. A predefined format and style would help you to be more professional.
Title
The title of the business report should be short and brief and keep in mind that it should be visible, clear, and at the beginning of the report. However, you should also mention the names of the team members who assisted you in writing and research the report along with the date.
Table of Content
The table of content is necessary for long and complicated formal business reports and it should be after the title and author’s name. TOC comes at the beginning of the report, however, you have to create after finalizing the report. You should create a list of all the main headings that appear on various pages, and number them accordingly.
Summary
A summary is optional in the business report. It provides an overview of the whole report and makes it easier for people to have an idea of it. If your report is short, then you should ask the reader whether he would like the summary or not. However, it’s important to have it in the longer reports. Although it comes at the beginning of the project you have to write it at the end of the report by including various notes and recommendations.
The summary gives an insight into the finding and conclusion that you have drawn. That’s why it’s important to offer an overview of the report to the reader, and they would easily read it in a short time without going through the details.
Introduction
The introduction lets the reader know about the reason and purpose of writing the report, focusing on the subject, and a little background information. It also offers a summary of the main arguments and definitions.
Methodology
In the methodology section, your focus is on explaining the research methods and techniques you have used in preparing the report. It could be like quantitative method, qualitative method, interviews, etc. You also explain to the reader why you chose a certain method in acquiring the information.
Finding
Here you talk about the results of your research. While doing so, you should discuss the outcomes rationally and logically with sufficient information and data to back them up. It should prove the reasons for your conducting the research.
The best way to organize and present your data and finding is to use headings, subheadings, numbers, table format, or bullets. You could also use infographics, graphics, and images to illustrate the outcomes of your finding. While using graphics, you should make sure that they should be relevant to the report.
Recommendation/Conclusion
In the recommendation section, you provide your recommended course action based on your assessment and find. If you’re setting any goals, then they should be measurable. However, you should let them know-how method, technique, and goal you used or set would impact the company.
Bibliography/Appendices
It includes articles, books, and periodicals that you have used in your research of writing the report. It also comprises tables, charts, summaries, notes, maps, questionnaires, etc. You should create a list of all the sources in alphabetical order.
Editing/Proofreading
After writing the report, you should edit and proofread your report in order to make sure that it doesn’t have grammatical and spelling errors. A well-written and error-free report would make your report clear, concise, and credible. You should avoid using difficult and slang words, however, tech terms are acceptable.
Example of Business Report
Here’s an example of a business report as follows;
(Picture credit for belowmentioned report goes to indeed.com)
Conclusion: How to write a business report
After an in-depth study of how to write a business report, we’ve concluded that writing a report plays a key role in professional business. If you’re planning to write a report, then follow the abovementioned suggestions and format. Hopefully, it would work out for your project. If you have any questions, leave them in the comment box below.
Ahsan Ali Shaw is an accomplished Business Writer, Analyst, and Public Speaker. Other than that, he’s a fun loving person.
