REPORT WRITING

The word ‘report’ has been derived from the Latin word ‘reportare’ which means ‘to carry
back’. A report is a document that presents information in an organized format for a specific
audience and purpose.
In "Contemporary Business Reports," Kuiper and Clippinger define business reports as
"organized, objective presentations of observations, experiences, or facts used in the
decision-making process."

TYPES OF REPORTS
Reports may be classified in different ways. Reports are often classified by criteria such as: Who
initiates them (Source), how often they are needed (Frequency), where are they being sent
(Target Audience), How much detail they contain (Length), and whether they are designed to
simply educate or to present a decision and require action (Intent)

1. SOURCE: Voluntary Reports and Authorized Reports

a. Voluntary Report: It is prepared on your own initiative
b. Authorized Report: It is prepared at the request of someone else and is organized to respond
to reader’s request.

2. LENGTH: Long and Short Reports

a. Long Report (10 pages or more): A long report examines a problem in detail and generally
requires more extensive research and preparation time. Example: Feasibility Report of a
Product
b. Short Report (generally 1 to 9 pages): A short report is a concise presentation of a topic or
an event. These are brief and precise in nature and contain only the relevant facts. Example:
Report on Annual Exhibition of School: Short Report

3. TARGET AUDIENCE: Internal Reports and External Reports

a. Internal Report: Designed for use within the organization. Many internal reports (under 10
pages) are written in memo format.
b. External Report: Sent to people outside the organization. External reports are in letter
format (if they are less than 5 pages) or manuscript format (if they exceed 5 pages).

4. FREQUENCY: Routine reports and Special reports

a. Routine Reports or Periodic reports

The reports, which are prepared on a routine basis in an organization, are called routine
reports. They are submitted on a recurring basis (daily, weekly, monthly, quaterly, annually).
These are prepared in the normal course of business, whether or not something extra ordinary
takes place. The different routine reports may be as follows:
• Progress Report: This is the report about the growth of an organization or any department of
the organization. It may even relate to the progress of an individual in an organization.
• Regular Inspection Report: In case of a manufacturing concern, or even in case of other
organizations, regular inspections are held to check the compliance of the products and services
with the specified norms. The Superiors in the organization may do these inspections. The
report prepared by these inspection teams is called inspection report.
• Performance Appraisal Report: At regular intervals, Performance Appraisal of the
 employees is done by the Personnel Department. This is done to assess and evaluate the
employees as per their performance. For this purpose, Performance Appraisal report of each
employee is made and sent to the management for evaluation.
• Periodical Report: A report prepared at regular time intervals is called a periodical report. A
monthly report, annual report, bi annual report, etc fall under this category.
b. Special Reports
Special Reports are those reports, which are not prepared on a routine basis, but only in the
event of special circumstances or exceptional happenings.
• Investigation Report: In case of an unusual happening, like sudden downfall of sales or fall
in production or any other event, investigation may have to be carried out to find the reasons
behind the event. Reports prepared after such an investigation are called investigation reports.
• Survey Report/Feasibility Report: A survey is sometimes carried out regarding the present
working or an organization, its sales, etc or the feasibility of any new project to be undertaken
by the organization. Survey/ Feasibility Reports are prepared to record the findings.
• First Information Report: This is commonly known as FIR. Mostly we understand that FIRs
are lodged in Police Station in case of any mis-happening, theft or loss. FIR may also be
prepared for record of an organization. This is prepared by the first witness to the event, as
report to his Superiors.

5. INTENT: Informational Report and Analytical Report

a. Informational Report
An informational report provides all details and facts pertaining to the topic, and is intended
mainly to explain something or educate the readers. It presents data and facts without analysis
or recommendations. Example: Compliance reports, progress reports, reports for monitoring
and controlling operations.

b. Analytical Report
The analytical report comprises stages in which there is a proper identification of the
problem, analysis and subsequent interpretation. Recommendations or suggestions are then
incorporated in the report, depending upon what is required by the report writer. Example:
Trouble-shooting reports, feasibility and justification reports.

6. ON THE BASIS OF FORMALITY: Formal and Informal Reports

a. Formal Reports are those reports, which are to be submitted to a higher authority for
analysis or for approval. These are prepared by keeping in mind all the technicalities of
report writing. Mostly, the reports prepared in the organizations are formal reports. In formal
reports, proper facts and figures, which can be substantiated, are used.
b. Informal Reports are those which are prepared by the person, either for his own use or for
keeping as a record, not for the use of an organization for any formal purposes. Informal
reports may be based on guess work or approximation of facts.
Examples:
Formal Report: Report Submitted by Sales Manager to General Manager regarding annual
sale.
Informal Report: Report submitted by sales assistant to sales manager regarding
approximate number of customers entering the showroom.
 7. ON THE BASIS OF LEGAL REQUIREMENT: Statutory and Non-Statutory Reports
a. Statutory Report: These are prepared according to the legal provisions. Example: A report
submitted to the Registrar of joint stock companies is prepared by the Directors or
Company Secretary as per the Indian Companies Act.
b. Non-Statutory Report: These reports are not required to be prepared in accordance with
any legal provisions.

REPORT PLANNING

STRUCTURE OF A BUSINESS REPORT

There is no set outline that can be used in preparing reports. The most appropriate form and
contents of a particular report should be determined by nature of the target audience. The following
is the suggested broad outline of a report.A few important aspects regarding the various parts of
the reports are briefly narrated below:
1. Title Page: Business reports with a title page that contains the full title of the
report, the name of the author or compiler, the name of the intended audience and
the date of submission. A title page may also include the name of the organization
for which the report has been prepared.
2. Executive Summary or Abstract: It is useful to all those who have little time to
read the whole text. Business executives mostly read summaries of reports. The
report is organized on the assumption that everyone will not like to read all the
matter presented in the report. Highlight the main purpose and the primary points
of a business report with a 200- to 250-word "abstract" or a one-page or shorter
“executive summary.” Abstracts and executive summaries usually follow the title
page on a separate page and highlight the purpose, methods, scope, findings,
conclusions and recommendations of the report.
3. Table of Contents: The contents page should list the different chapters and/or
headings together with the page numbers. Your contents page should be
presented in such a way that the reader can quickly scan the list of headings and
locate a particular part of the report. You may want to number chapter headings
and subheadings in addition to providing page references. Whatever numbering
system you use, be sure that it is clear and consistent throughout.
4. List of Figures, Tables, Abbreviations or Symbols: If you include more than
five figures or tables, list these items by page number on a “List of Figures” or
“List of Tables” page following the table of contents. If the report uses several
abbreviations or symbols, identify these as well on a separate “List of
Abbreviations” or “List of Symbols” page.
5. Introduction: The purpose of the introduction is to discuss the background of the
project. This section introduces the problem at the macro and micro level. An
explanation of the nature of the problem and its history in terms of existing literature
related to the research problem. Firstly, it provides a total picture of the topic
presented. This will also show how the present problem fits into that topic. Secondly, it
tells the readers what research has been carried on the problem.
Objective:
Methodology: It broadly includes the objectives and significance of the study,
description of methodology, formulation of hypothesis, testing and tools of analysis
and the technical aspects and limitation of the study. It tells the reader what was
done to solve the problem.
6. Findings: This presents the inferences derived from statistical analysis. From the
point of view of findings, reports may be either descriptive or explanatory. The
finding is presented in simple language. The problem in writing a descriptive report is
to communicate effectively in simple language. The audience is provided discrete
facts abut the population studied. In a descriptive report, an author has to describe
the details of the findings. The findings should be arranged in the way that makes it
easiest for the reader to understand them quickly. Like a guide, the author helps in
pointing out important findings. Possible interpretations and applications are also
suggested in the report.

7. Conclusions and Recommendations: At the end of the body of the report,

present your concluding ideas and arguments in the “Conclusions” section.
Conclusions are made on the basis of approval or rejection of a hypothesis.
These either verify or deny the hypothesis or assumptions set for the data
analysis. “Recommendations”, indicate the course of action or suggestions in
light of the arguments given in the body of the report.

8. Endnotes or Explanatory Notes: If you do not include footnotes in the body of

the report, you may find it helpful to include “Endnotes” or “Explanatory Notes”
after your conclusions section. These notes provide additional helpful
information for your readers that may be distracting if it were included in the
body of the report.

9. Bibliography, References or Works Cited: The references that were used either
to prepare the report or to support the argument and ideas in the report are listed
on a separate “Bibliography,” References” or “Works Cited” page after the
endnotes section. It includes any research sources, such as websites, books or
interviews that were used during the research or referenced directly in the text of
the report.
 10. Appendix: Appendices are included at the end of the report. It is a set of all those
materials that are supplementary to the report such as formulae, computations , questionnaire,
statistical tables, etc.
11. Glossary: It is useful to provide an alphabetical list of technical terms with a brief,
clear description of each term. You can also include in this section explanations of
the acronyms, abbreviations or standard units used in your report.
A glossary is required if there are more than five technical terms in a report. If there
are less than five technical terms then they can be explained using foot notes.
12. Index: All topics covered in the report are listed in an alphabetical order in the
index. It helps to escort the reader to locate the place where a particular topic is
discussed. Index is needed only in long extensive reports

FEATURES OF A GOOD BUSINESS REPORT

1. Clarity: A good business report should be straightforward, comprehensive and logical.
2. Complete and self-explanatory: A business report should contain all facts, illustrations,
statements or findings. It should be self-explanatory.
3. Comprehensive but compact: It should encapsulate all the information in a concise manner.
4. Accurate: All information provided in the report should be based on verified facts and
statistics as a business report is meant to assist in managerial decision-making and strategic
planning activities
5. Balanced: All essential information should be presented in a balanced way avoiding any kind
of biases.
6. Structured clearly and logically: Clear sentence structure and good transitions are essential.
Identify the ideas that belong together and organize them in a way that is easy to understand.
7. Documented properly: A business report should be carefully drafted in a proper format and
proper credit should be given to the sources used in the report.

FORMATS OF BUSINESS REPORT

1. Preprinted form:
It is basically a “fill in the blank” type of standardized form. Printed forms are generally used
to collect routine, repetitive information. Example: A company may keep printed forms for
recording monthly sales. Using a printed form is quite simple because the person filling it is
just required to fill in the blanks or tick against the listed items. Detailed descriptions are not
required. The printed forms for reporting are more systematic, objective, time saving and
easily interpreted.
2. Memo:
A memo is commonly short internal informal (less than 10 pages) report distributed within
the organization. Like longer reports, they often have internal headings and visual aids.
Memos exceeding 10 pages are referred to as memo reports
3. Letter Report:
Letter reports are primarily used to present information to persons outside the organization,
especially when the information is to be sent by mail or fax. Commonly used for reports of
five or fewer pages. These reports include all the normal parts of a letter, but they may also
have headings, footnotes, tables and figures.
4. Manuscript:
Commonly used for reports that require a formal approach. These reports are divided into
sections and sub sections, each with a clear heading. As length increases, reports in
manuscript format require more elements in the prefatory and supplementary parts.
A Preprinted Report
COMPONENTS OF FORMAL REPORT
A formal report is more detailed in terms information, includes more images, and any other relevant data
or material. A formal report is an official report that contains detailed information, research, and data
necessary to make business decisions. This report is generally written for the purpose of solving a
problem. Some examples of formal reports include: Inspection Report.

1. Prefatory parts
a. Cover
b. Title Fly
c. Title page
d. Letter of Authorization
e. Letter of acceptance
f. Letter of transmittal
g. Table of contents
h. List of illustrations
Discussed in the
i. Executive Summary or Abstract beginning of the
chapter
• Introduction
• Main findings
• Conclusions and Recommendations
2. Main Text
(a) Introduction
• Objective or Introducing the theme
• Review of related literature
• Methodology Discussed in the
beginning of the
(b) Body of the Report chapter
• Statistical analysis
• Testing of hypothesis
• Findings
(c) Results
• Conclusions
• Recommendations
3. Supplementary Parts
• Bibliography Discussed in the
• Appendix beginning of the
chapter
• Glossary
• Index
PREFATORY PARTS: These are placed before the main text and provide preliminary information
to the readers.
a. Cover: It provides first contact with the report to the reader. The first impression of the report
is usually formed on the basis of the report cover. Many companies have standard covers of
for reports, made of heavy paper and imprinted with the company’s name and logo. The cover
keeps the report safe; provides information about the -title, writer, company’s name, date of
submission, etc.; and in the aesthetic sense increases the value of a report.
b. Title Fly: Title fly is a plain sheet of paper which mentions only the title of the report
c. Title page: It includes (1) title of the report; (2) the name, title and address of the person
or organization that authorized the report; (3) the name, title and address of the person or
organization that prepared the report; (4) the date of submission of the report
d. Letter of Authorization: It is a document requesting that a report be prepared and
typically specifies the problem, scope, time and money restrictions, special instructions
and due date.
e. Letter of acceptance: It acknowledges the assignment to conduct the study and to
prepare the report. This document is rarely included in reports.
f. Letter of transmittal: It is a brief business letter, which conveys what is being sent, why
they received it and who is it from. In a book, it is called Preface. Its style is less formal
than the rest of the report.
g. Table of contents
h. List of illustrations
Discussed in the
i. Executive Summary or Abstract beginning of the
chapter
• Introduction
• Main findings
• Conclusions and Recommendations