Chartered Institute of

Management Accountants
Writing a REPORT
in the Case Study exams Chartered Institute of
Management Accountants

The Operational, Management and Strategic case study exams are all set in a simulated Chartered Institute of
Management Accountants
business context. The aim of these exams is to put you in a ‘real life’ business situation
and to get you to perform tasks which a management accountant could be expected to
complete in the workplace.
Report writing is often a key part of a management accountant’s role. You may be asked to
write a report during your case study exam so you should be prepared to do so.
Below is some guidance on how to write a report in the exam:

Be professional The body of the report

Think about your audience. Take each of the points that you made in your introduction and give
Is the report for the Board of Directors, employees at a similar level to it a sub-heading.
you or an external party? Can you assume that the audience are all Breaking your report into sections with clear sub-headings will make it
accounting/finance staff or will some readers of the report have little or easier to read (and write!).
no accounting background. If this is the case you will need to think about
the technical detail you use and explain it clearly and concisely. Think about the information that you have been given in the exam -
which parts of it are relevant for the purpose of the report? For example,
do you have any financial data that would be useful to show in the
Why are you writing the report?
report or any background information that you should refer to? Think
What is the purpose of the report? about how you can format this data and information so it is easy for
Have you been asked to present some information and/or data, do you your reader to understand.
need to give a recommendation on how to resolve an issue? Make sure While you are writing your report keep reminding yourself about the
that your report covers exactly what you have been asked to do in the purpose of the report and the audience – don’t get bogged down in detail
requirement. which is not relevant.

Starting point – the title Conclusion and recommendation

Your title should be clear and simple so your audience can If you have been asked to give a recommendation then you should
immediately see what you will be discussing and who the do so at the end of your report.
report is for.
Make it clear that you are making a recommendation and state what
For example ‘A report to the Finance Director on change management your recommendation is. For example ‘Having considered all of the issues
issues’ or ‘A report to the Board of Directors on how to write a report in in this report I recommend that this company...’.
an exam’.
Your recommendation should be supported by information and facts that
you have included in the main body of your report.
The introduction
You may not be required to give a recommendation in which case
This is where you state the purpose of the report and let the
you can conclude the report with a sentence such as ‘This report has
audience know what you will be covering.
identified a number of key issues on moving to activity based costing –
For example you may have four different areas that you want to cover if you have any questions please contact me.’
so you could write:
You may want to summarise what you think are the key points in your
This report will cover the following; conclusion.
• Background information on… It can be useful to put your name and position in the company
• Our current position on… (if known) at the bottom of the report.
• Our options for the future…
• My recommendations for the future… And finally
Read through your completed report – now is the time to edit or
add anything.
A summary of other formats • Conclusion and/or recommendations – make sure your conclusion
covers the most important points that you want to get across to the
In your case study exam you may be asked to produce an answer reader. If you need to make a recommendation make sure it is clear
using a format other than a report such as by email, briefing notes, and direct and you can back it up with the information presented in
a memo or a discussion paper (this list is not exhaustive). your main summary.
An email A memo
We have produced a guide on ‘Writing an email in the case study exams’ Memos are used to remind people about something – they are used
(Link to be updated) – read this for more guidance. internally within a company. They should be brief and concise and state:
Briefing notes • Who the memo is to;
Briefing notes are usually short papers that quickly and effectively • Who the memo is from;
inform the reader (often a decision-maker) about an issue. Briefing notes • The date;
give someone a short, clear and concise version of the key points and • Subject; and
considerations about an issue. • The content of the message.
Format your briefing notes into three parts; A discussion paper
A discussion paper should give its reader(s) a thorough understanding of
 he purpose of the briefing notes – outline the issue or topic that
• T
a topic; it needs to cover all issues, from all angles and perspectives so
you will be addressing.
that an informed decision can be made. The format of your discussion
• A summary of the facts/information – break this section down into paper will be similar to that of a report with an introduction, the body
a number of topics and use subheadings (which are relevant to the of your discussion paper (you could divide this into arguments for and
exam requirement) such as a summary of the history of the topic, arguments against), a conclusion and recommendation(s).
relevant background information, reasons why is there now an issue,
key considerations, what can you do to resolve the issue and so on.

Need more guidance?

Have a look at our case study practice exams and answers for some examples of email communication –
go to www.cimaglobal.com/practiceexams and find out how to access them.
Read our guide on ‘Taking your first case study exam’ – go to connect.cimaglobal.com/exam-information
(you will need to log into CIMAconnect to download it)
Download our ‘Study and exam guides’ for the Operational, Management and Strategic case study exams.
Find the guide that is relevant to your level – go to connect.cimaglobal.com/resources and search
for ‘Case study, Study and Exam Guides’.
Have a look at our guide on ‘How to write a report in the case study exam’ (Link to be updated)

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