WHAT IS A BUSINESS REPORT AND HOW DO I WRITE ONE?
Business reports can take different forms. Generally, they are concise documents that first inform by summarizing and analyzing key facts and situations and then make recommendations to the person or group asking for the report. One example—four small county hospitals are no longer covering their expenses and are costing taxpayers dearly. Each operates very differently from the others. Some legislators think the least profitable hospitals should be closed while some taxpayers think all four should be consolidated into one regional administrative unit. An independent task force is considering all the feasible alternatives and will make a final recommendation to the county. You have been asked to write a report to this task force. You have an array of data collected from the hospitals as well as information about the communities they serve and available literature on hospital administration to draw from. Before writing this or any report, you must ask yourself two important questions:
1. Who is my audience? (In business, this is likely to be either your supervisors or clients, such as the task force above,
1 who will read your report.)
2. What is my purpose? (This is what your readers need to know to do their job.)
If you don’t understand your audience and purpose, you are not likely to create a report that meets the needs of those who will be reading it.
AUDIENCE: In the example above, you must write your report as if you were writing not to your professor, but rather to the task force members. Who are they? Legislators? Nurses?
Lawyers? Administrators? Taxpayers? All of these?
Whoever they are, you need to ask and answer the following: What do they already know before they read your report? What do you want them to know after they’ve read it? What are their backgrounds? What are their likely biases? How do they approach problems—for example, would certain kinds of information and terminology be understood by the medical staff but not by administrators? The medical staff would be familiar with information on risks and benefits of certain medications for certain patients, while administrators would be familiar with government regulations on Medicare reimbursement. Use information, explanations, and language familiar to your specific readers.
PURPOSE: Once you fully understand the audience for your report and re-consider your assignment with them in mind, your purpose (goals) should become clear. Most likely, your writing goals will be to inform by summarizing key information; analyze by comparing costs, or 1 If you are writing for a class assignment, don’t think of your professor as your only audience; the assignment is designed to test your ability to address a particular audience, one identified in the case you will be working with.
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strengths and weaknesses; and possibly recommend certain actions based on the facts and data you have presented. In the hospital case, for example, your job is to give the taskforce the important facts2 and background so that its members can make an informed decision and be able to back it up if questioned.
CAN I JAZZ UP MY WRITING TO BE MORE CREATIVE AND PERSONAL?
When you inform or analyze for a business report, your job is not to dazzle with vocabulary, jargon, or complex sentences. Creative, adjective-filled prose does not belong in a business report. You can generally use “you,” but should avoid “I,” as well as slang or contractions. What your clients want is prose that is objective, succinct, non-emotive, and above all, factual.
Consider the connotations of language in the following sentences:
1. Subjective and Emotive Writing: The hospital’s lazy unproductive “down in the dumps” slackers were ready to turn in their brooms.
This sentence sounds like something from a cheap novel or talk radio; it’s loaded with negative connotations.
2. Objective and Unbiased Writing: The custodians who had not met their recent productivity goals were willing to discuss change.
This sentence, on the other hand, doesn’t judge the employees, and it suggests that they want some kind of change.
Let your facts and clear writing—not loaded words—do the persuading.
HOW CAN I MAKE MY WRITING FIT MY AUDIENCE AND PURPOSE?
1. First, read your assigned task carefully and then do some important pre-writing:
a. Determine your audience: what are their needs and how much background do they have? This last is really important because you don’t want to bore readers with information they already know or summaries of every little detail. At the same time, you don’t want to skip key points or write over their heads by ignoring important definitions. Jot down what you think your readers will know or believe before they read your report.
b. Next, define your purpose. Write down what you want your readers to know after reading your report—this is your writing goal.
2. Draft your report carefully, being certain to respond to all of the things you have been asked to include. Subheadings help readers follow your ideas. Typical short reports have the following sections: Terms of Reference, Procedure, Findings, Conclusions, and
Recommendations. You, however, may be asked to use different subheadings or decide on other subheadings that best reflect and organize the report.
a. Each section reflects a different goal.
b. Within a section, each paragraph should explore a single main idea—start each paragraph with a strong, unifying sentence, one that summarizes its main point. 2 A report is not the place to impress your audience with all the facts you can cram in—pare down to what is most important to your particular readers. Separate “need to know” from “nice to know.”
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3. Consider charts, graphs, or short bulleted lists that can quickly communicate important information to your readers.
4. Put the draft aside for at least a day. If you can, send it to others for a review:
a. Don’t reveal the audience; instead, ask your reviewers who they think the audience is. If they can’t pinpoint your intended audience, something is off base in your report.
b. Ask them to write down your three most important points. If they name three things that aren’t what you think are most important, you have work to do.
c. Also ask them to note where things are unclear, “fluffy,” or out of place.
d. Finally, because you want to be as objective as possible, ask your reviewers to circle words or passages that seem subjective or too emotive.
Consider reviewers’ comments with an open mind. You may think you’ve communicated what you intended, but it may not have come out that way. Don’t take it personally.
5. Before you revise your draft, re-read your assigned task one final time. Often in the heat of writing, we get off track and include things that aren’t required or neglect to provide information that we’ve been asked for.
6. Revise for wordiness. Consider the following:
a. In my opinion, the main problem is….(revise to “The main problem is…”)
b. There are numerous considerations that will influence your decision (revise to
“Numerous considerations will influence your decision.”)
c. In today’s business world, accountants are maintainers of corporate productivity
(revise to “Accountants today help maintain corporate productivity.”)
Cutting two or three unneeded words per sentence doesn’t create dull writing; rather, it creates tight, easy-to read reports that will be welcomed by busy readers.
7. Proofread carefully—reading slowly and out loud helps catch things your eye might skip.

HOW TO WRITE A BUSINESS REPORT
Part 2 of 2: Writing a Business Report 1. -------------------------------------------------

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Determine your objective and format. Ask yourself what you would like the report to accomplish.[2] Based on the desired objective, choose a type of report from the list above. * Regardless of the answer, you need to make your objective concise. If it is muddled, then your report will only confuse your audience, which risks damaging the report's credibility. * For instance, you may want to accomplish receiving a larger advertising budget for your department. Your report should focus on the current advertising budget and how you might effectively use a larger budget. 1. -------------------------------------------------

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Identify your audience. Your audience may include an outside party (someone who doesn’t work within your company) or someone within your firm. Consider the knowledge or familiarity the audience already has with the intended topic. Also, think about how the audience will use the information in the report.[3] * Remember that regardless of your audience, no bottom line speaks louder than money to a company or client. * For instance, say you want to implement a job-share program for your division. You decide your target audience is the company’s HR director, CEO and COO. Consider how much they likely know about job-share programs already. The answer will set the tone for the report. If your company has never considered a job-share program, then the report will be both informational and strategic. If the company has considered a job-share program, then the report will be less informational and more persuasive. 2. -------------------------------------------------

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Identify what you need to learn. The hardest part of writing a business report isn't in the writing. It’s forming a conclusion and collecting the data necessary to support that conclusion. This involves a variety of skills, including data collection and market analysis. What do you — and, in the end, management — need to know to make an informed decision about the topic? 3. -------------------------------------------------

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Collect the appropriate data for your report. It is important that your data is well-researched; otherwise, you risk losing credibility. Data gathering itself is going to depend on the type of report that you write. Ensure that the data parameters you choose are concise and relevant to the point of the report. * Data may come internally, which means you'll be able to collect it quite quickly. Sales figures, for example, should be available from the sales department with a phone call, meaning you can receive your data and plug it into your report quickly. * External data may also be available internally. If a department already performs customer analysis data collection, borrow that department's. You don't need to conduct the research on your own. This will be different for every type of business, but the writer of a business report often doesn't need to conduct firsthand research. * For instance, if you are writing a justification/recommendation report, then you have to research all the benefits of your proposed idea and incorporate the research into your report. 4. -------------------------------------------------

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Organize and write the report. How you organize your report depends on your objective. For instance, you would organize a compliance report differently than a feasibility report. Once you have an idea of how you want to organize your report, you can write your content. * Break up relevant data into separate sections. A business report can't be a big flood of figures and information. Organizing the data into separate sections is key to the success of a well-written business report. For example, keep sales data separate from customer analysis data, each with its own header. * Organize the report into appropriate section headers, which may be read through quickly as standalone research, but also supporting the basic objective of the report together. * Since some of the sections may depend upon analysis or input from others, you can often work on sections separately while waiting for the analysis to be completed. 5. -------------------------------------------------

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Draw conclusions with specific recommendations. Draw clear conclusions that follow logically from the data examined in the report. Clearly recommend the best course of action based on those conclusion, if appropriate.[4] * Any goals should include specific, measurable actions. Write out any changes in job descriptions, schedules or expenses necessary to implement the new plan. Each statement should directly indicate how the new method will help to meet the goal/solution set forth in the report. 6. -------------------------------------------------

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Write the executive summary. The executive summary should be the very first page of the report, but it should be the last thing that you write. The executive summary should present your findings and conclusions and give a very brief overview of what someone would read, should they choose to continue reading the entire report. It's like a trailer for a movie, or an abstract in an academic paper. * The executive summary gets its name because it's likely the only thing a busy executive would read. Tell your boss everything important here, in no more than 200-300 words. The rest of the report can be perused if the boss is more curious. 7. -------------------------------------------------

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Use infographics for applicable data, if necessary. In some cases, you may find it helpful to include graphs or charts displaying quantitative data.[5] Use color within the display, as it draws more attention to and helps to differentiate the information. Whenever possible, use bullet points, numbers or boxed data to help with readability. This sets your data apart from the rest of your report and helps to indicate its significance. * Generally speaking, visual figures are a great idea for business reports because the writing and the data itself can be a little dry. Don’t go overboard, though. All infographics should be relevant and necessary. * Use boxes on pages with a lot of text and no tables or figures. A page full of text can be tiresome for a reader. Boxed information can also effectively summarize important points on the page. 8. -------------------------------------------------

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Cite your sources, if necessary. Depending on what kind of research you've done, you might need to explain where you obtained your information. The purpose of the bibliography or sources page in a business report is to provide a resource for others should they wish to follow up on the data and look into it. * Use the appropriate formatting for the citations in your report, based on your industry. 9. -------------------------------------------------

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Proofread your report twice. Misspellings or basic grammatical errors may give your readers the impression that you didn’t put enough effort into the report. These errors can even call into question the credibility of your findings. Also, make sure that you present your information in a clear, concise way.[6] * For example, don’t overuse fancy words or make your sentences too wordy. * Avoid using slang. * If your report and audience are both closely tied to a specific industry, it's appropriate to use jargon or technical terms. But you have to take care to not overuse jargon and technical terms. * Generally, business writing is written in the passive voice, and this is one of the few instances where passive writing is usually better than active active writing. * You can often miss errors while proofreading your own work due to the familiarity from writing it. Consider asking someone else in your department who wants the report to succeed to read over it as well. Be open to the feedback. It's better to hear about mistakes from a co-worker than from a boss. Review each comment from the peer review and rewrite the report, taking comments into consideration. 10. -------------------------------------------------

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Create a table of contents. Format the business report as formally as possible, creating a table of contents to make it easy to reference and flip through your report. Include all relevant sections, especially the executive summary and conclusions. 11. -------------------------------------------------

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Package your business report. The best complement to a thorough, well-researched report is polished packaging. This may include nice folders, binders or paper. The bottom line is that your business report needs to look sharp to intrigue your audience enough to read it. * This applies to any graphs or charts included in the report as well. ort