ReportWhat is report? A report is a major form of technical / business / professional communication. A report is a logical presentation of facts & information.

The word Report is derived from the Latin word Reportare means to bring back over the period of time, it has evolved to mean that the gathered information is unbiased & evidence based.

The Dictionary defines a report as An account given or opinion formally expressed, after investigating or consideration. C.A. Brown defines report writing as A communication from someone who has some information to someone who wants to use that information. A report is a statement prepared & submitted by an individual or a committee in which certain problems or matters have been studied & analyzed & in which suggestions or recommendation have been put forward for future course of action. A report can be the description of event by a person who witnessed it. It can be the description of the conditions that did exist, that do exist or that are likely to exist. In short we can say that a report is usually a piece of factual writing based on evidence, containing organized information on a particular topic. It is formal nature & it is written for a specific purpose & audience.
Importance of ReportsA report is a basic management tool used in decision making. Hence it is extremely important for an organizations of all types. Reports are vital especially for large-scale organizations that are engaged in multifarious activities handled by different departments. Their top

executives cannot keep a personal watch over all these activities so they have to base their decision on the reports they get from the heads-of various departments. For large organizations are indispensable. Reports bear a lot of significance both to the organizations in which they arise & to the organizations they are submitted to. The following list will give you an idea of how important reports & report writing are to the organizations & the individuals 1) Reports help the authorities in planning new ventures & in evaluating men & material If an organization wants to open a new branch in a nearby locality, it can plan more effectively after going through the report prepared for this purpose. An organization can also evaluate a newly introduced machine or product or men by listening or reading the report prepared for this purpose. 2) Reports enable decision making & problem solving in organizationBased on the information presented analysis discussed or suggestions rendered, administrators can make important decisions & solve problem of serious concern. 3) Reports are an important means of information dissemination within & outside the organizationMany of routine reports such as inspection, inventory, annual reports transmit information across & outside the organisation. 4) Reports serve as a measure of the growth, progress or success of an organisation From time to time our reports provide information on growth progress of an organisation.

5) Reports reveal gaps in thinkingWhen a report is read & comprehended, the recipient comes to know whether the report writer had thought & proceeded logically & whether he had conducted an in-depth study of the topic. If there is some lacuna in logical reasoning or thinking on the part of writer, reports are sure to reveal them. 6) Reports develop certain skills in the writerReports not only help organisations but also help the writer to develop certain skills, such as the ability to organize, to evaluate & to communicate with greater accuracy.

Characteristics of a ReportA good report must have the following characteristics-

1) TitleReport must be clearly titled & designed to be read selectively & easily. It must be presented before its due date & must contain up-to-date information. 2) PrecisionThe report writer must have clarity the exact purpose of writing it. His source of collecting data, investigations, analysis & recommendations must be guided & directed by this central purpose. This will give precision & coherence to report writing. 3) Accurate & Relevant factsThe accuracy of facts & their relevance are very essential to a good report. Inaccurate & irrelevant facts make a report confusing & misleading.

4) Reader orientationA good report is always reader oriented. While drafting a report, it is necessary to keep in mind who is going to read it? Who is going to use it? 5) Simple, correct & unambiguous languageA good report is written in a simple accurate & unambiguous language. It is a kind of scientific document & hence it should be free from any ambiguity. 6) Clarity & brevityA good report is absolutely clear & brief. Clarity depends on proper arrangement of facts & systematic writing procedure. But brevity should be achieved at the cost of clarity. It should be prcis include everything significant & yet be brief. 7) Objectivity of recommendationThe recommendations must be impartial & objective. They should come as logical outcome of investigation & finding. 8) IllustrationMost technical reports contain illustrations, which may be tables, graphs, maps, drawings, charts or photographs. 9) HomogeneityYour report should deal with one topic at a time. All the sections of your report should focus on that topic. 10)DocumentationTechnical reports acquire more value when adequately documented by acknowledging sources of information in an appropriate style.

Types of business reports

Reports may be classified on the basis of various criteria. 1) On the basis of procedure and legally there are i. Informal reports ii. Formal reports An informal report may be in the form of a personal letter and submitted without observance of any formality. A formal report on the other hand is to be prepared in a prescribed formal and is required to be presented as per the procedure, to a specific and prescribed authority. Formal reports are sometimes prepared and submitted as per the statutory governing law. e.g. The directors report to the annual general meeting of the board. 2) On the basis of function a report may be i. Informative ii. Interpretative Informative reportAn informative report presents facts & figures pertinent to an issue or a situation. Interpretative reportIf report analyses the facts, draws conclusions & makes recommendations it is called an interpretative report. If a report presents sales figures in a particular period, it is informative but if it goes into the causes of the decline in sales in that period, it becomes an interpretative report. 3) On the basis of the frequency of issue, a report may be i. Periodic ii. A special

Periodic reports are prepared & submitted at regular intervals in the usual business routine. These reports may be presented daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, half yearly or annually. These reports contain facts & figures, generally presented in the prescribed format. e.g. The branch manager of a bank submits a periodic report to the head office regarding business transaction in that period. A special reportA special report related to a single occasion or situation. e.g. A report on the feasibility of opening a new branch in a particular locality. These reports analyze the data & draw conclusions & if required, make recommendations to the management. 4) On the basis of the nature of the subject to be dealt with, there are i. Problem determining report ii. Fact finding report iii. Performance report iv. Technical report Problem determining reportIn a problem determining report there is an attempt to determine whether the problem actually exists or not & if it exists, to find out the causes underlying these problems. Fact finding reportIn a fact finding report, the underlying currents of the surfacing matters are located & analyzed. Performance reportPerformance report will obviously deal with the performance or the non-performance staff or the organisations unit under reference

Technical reportIn a technical report, the organization presents technical data on a specialized technical subject & comments on it. 5) On the basis of the number of persons who are involved in the process of preparing the reports. i. Individual ii. Committee or sub-committee Reports by committee are mostly written in the report form which is sometimes referred to as the schematic form. Individual reports are generally written in a single letter form while committee reports are written with a short covering letter.

Forms or Formats of ReportsYour report may have one of the following formats y Manuscript y Pre-printed y Memo y Letter ManuscriptThis is the most commonly used formats for reports & is generally used for the reports that are formal. The length of such report can range from a few pages to several hundred. Manuscript format can be used for all types of reportsInformational Analytical Routine As the length increases, these reports include more elements such as Abstract Summary Appendix

Glossary & so on.

Pre-printed formatsReports containing routine matter & which are periodical in nature may be written in a form prescribed by the organisation & you just fill in the blanks in a pre-printed form.

Memo Report A memorandum report commonly known as meme report. It is mainly used for internal communication within the organization. It is used to handle routine business matters like passing information from one department to another, making changes, solving a problem etc. it helps the administration in making decisions or solving certain problems. A memo report is a permanent record of the internal operations & it is quite similar to letter report but the difference is structure & it is more formal than letter report because of its circulation within the organization. Generally a memo report is shorter than a letter report & adopts a matter-of-fact style. It is written on the letter head of the organization. Inside address or salutations are not required. The main body of the memo report includes headings appropriate to the discussed matter. Although there is no complementary close or signature, sometimes the memo report is signed or initialed at the end. Most organizations have a printed format for memos in which a memo report can be submitted.