REPORT WRITING

A business report conveys information to assist in business decision-making. The business

report is the medium in which to present this information. Some reports might present the
actual solution to solve a business problem; other reports might record past business
information that is used toward future business planning. More traditional reports, such as
Business Plans, serve to communicate the Business Concept, business management model,
commercial objectives, operational procedures and the perceived viability of the enterprise.
Many people consider business reports as dry, uninteresting documents which take a great
deal of time and effort to prepare. The reality is that they are an essential part of doing
business and one's ability to be proficient in this area is critical to the ability to pursue
commercial success business template.
Although for most business reports templates are readily available, they are only a guide and
the reports needs to be developed to best fit their intended application. In order for the reader
to have a clear understanding of why a report is written, a written purpose theme must exist
through the report. This theme could be represented as either a statement or a question.

Types of Business Reports

Reports on the basis of Importance or Frequency

The reports are classified into two types. They are ordinary or routine reports and special
reports.

1. Ordinary or Routine Report

Ordinary reports are prepared and presented before the managing director at specific intervals
or to the next authorized person in the business routine. The reports shall be submitted either
daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly, bi-annually or annually. This type of report
contains mere statement of facts in detail without any opinion or recommendation of the
reporter.
Examples for routine reports are Report of Directors to the Annual General Meeting,
Auditor’s Report to the Annual General Meeting, Sales Report, Production Report and the
like.

2. Special Report
This type of report is prepared and presented before the top management on specific request.
It usually contains the opinions or recommendations of the reporter with the help of facts and
arguments. Examples for special report are opening of branch, introducing a new product,
Improving the quality or changing the shape or size of the product and the like.

Reports on the Basis of Legal Formalities

The reports are classified into two types. They are formal report and informal report.

1. Formal Report

Formal report is prepared in a prescribed format and presented before the competent authority
in an established procedure. Reports submitted by officials or committees of constituted
bodies (example: Companies, Cooperative Societies, Local Bodies etc.) are usually formal
report.

2. Informal Report

Informal report is prepared in a format of the convenience of the reporter and presented
directly before the required person as and when demanded. An informal report is presented as
in the form of letter or memorandum. Generally, it takes the form of a person to person
communication.
The formal reports are classified into two types. They are statutory report and non-statutory
report.

Reports on the basis of Function

The reports are classified on the basis of function into two types. They are informative and
interpretative.

1. Informative Report

An informative report is prepared and presented with the help of available information at the
maximum with regard to an issue or situation.

2. Interpretative Report

An interpretative report is not only containing the facts, views and opinions of reporters and
others but also includes the causes for an issue or an event and required remedial action with
recommendations.

Reports on the basis of meetings

Whenever a meeting is organized in any business organization, a report is prepared by the
secretary or any other individual about the proceedings of the meeting. Such reports are
classified into two types. They are Verbation Report and Summarized Report.

1. Verbation Reports

A verbation report is a complete word by word record of all discussions made at a meeting.
For example, Appointment of an Auditor. A resolution is passed in the meeting. Likewise,
Directors are appointed and the remuneration and perquisites of key personnel are fixed by
passing a resolution. In this case, a report is prepared by including the verbation record of the
resolutions passed with the names of the proposers and seconders, manner of voting and
results.
However, the verbation report should not be confused with the minutes of the meeting which
is the official record of the proceedings and the decisions arrived at in the meeting.

2. Summarised Report

A summarized report is prepared with the help of the essential details discussed in the
meeting. This type of report is prepared for sending to the press or to shareholders of the
company or members of the institution.
Reports on the basis of Nature of the Subject dealt with
The following reports are included in the report which are classified on the basis of the nature
of the subject dealt with.

1. Problem Solving Report

A problem may arise in any one of the department or in the whole organization. Hence, the
top management may seek a report for solving the problem. When, the reporter collects
various information to find the causes for such problem. Moreover, the report is concluded
with the ways of solving the problem. Such type of report is called Problem Solving Report.

2. Fact Finding Report

A machine may be breakdown in the factory premises. Sometimes, there may be a rivalry
between the two group of workers. Now, the management wants to know the real reason for
machine break down and group clash between the workers. In this case, the reporter analyze
the incident through detailed investigation and find the truth. Finally, the reporter presents the
facts in the report form before the top management.

3. Performance Report

The business organization wants to know the performance of each department periodically or
performance of a branch or performance of newly appointed employee or performance of
existing employees for promotion, transfer and the like. The management is not in a position
to take a decision without knowing the performance. Hence, a reporter is asked to prepare the
performance report for anyone of the reasons mentioned above.

4. Technical Report

There is a lot of changes made in the technology. Whenever a company is going to introduce
mechanical process instead of manual process, the level of technology required assessed.
Sometimes a design may be changed in the existing product, if so, latest technology should be
adopted. In this case, a detailed report is essential to top management for taking a decision.
Such type of report is called Technical Report.

Reports of Committees or Subcommittees

Committees or Subcommittees are formed by the top management to prepare the report on
any one of the issue. The followings are included in the reports of committee or
subcommittee.

a. Standing Committee Report

b. Adhoc Committee Report
c. Minority Report
d. Majority Report
 1. Standing Committee Report

Standing Committees are permanent in nature and are entrusted to deal with some continuing
aspects of the business organization.
For example: Finance, Performance of Employees, Performance of Departments etc. These
matters are continuously watched by the standing committee and submit the report at frequent
intervals.

2. Special or adhoc Committee Report

Special or adhoc Committees are appointed to deal with special investigation and are
dissolved as soon as the presentation of report. Hence, the life of special committee is
temporary.
For example: Fire occurrence or Accident incurred within the factory premises. The causes
for fire or accident are find out by forming special committee.

3. Minority Report

Committees or subcommittees are appointed to submit the report based on the investigation
of special subject. Generally, three members are selected to form a committee or
subcommittee. One member being the chairman of such committee or subcommittee. If the
members have different opinion or views over the subject matter dealt with, the dissentient
member may append the notes of dissent or may submit a report separately. Such report is
termed as Minority Report. Even though, the dissent members must sign in the majority
report with dissent note.

4. Majority Report

Generally, all the members of the committee or subcommittee including chairman have
unanimous opinion among them. If so, only one report is prepared and presented before the
responsible body. If not so, majority members of the committee or subcommittee have
different opinion than minority members. In this case, majority members are going to submit
a report before the responsible body. Such report is termed as majority report.

Characteristics of Business Report

Business reports carry information on facts related to business activities. The very nature of
business report differentiates it from other reports. The unique characteristics of business
report are discussed below-

▪ Specific Issue: Every report, including business one, is written on specific subject. It is
written to fulfill certain need.
▪ Pre-Specified Audience: An important characteristic of report is that it has a pre-specified
audience. Usually a report is written for a limited number of audiences and the need of the
audience is always kept in mind.

▪ Specific Structure or Layout: In preparing report, certain structure or layout or format is

followed. The layout or structure of report is almost same in every case.

▪ Written on Past Events: In most of the cases, the reports are written on past events. Most of
the business reports carry the reasons of happing the incident, the ways of recovery etc.
Reports are also written in past forms.

▪ Neutral in Nature: In drafting reports, impartiality it strictly maintained. No biased or

nonobjective material is included in it. Biased report may lead to disastrous decisions.

▪ Factual Information: Business report is always written based on factual information. The
data collected on specific events is factual, not factious.

▪ Joint Effort: A report is an outcome of joint efforts of a group of people. No one can
personally or solely prepare a report. Now-a-days, in most of the cases, committee is formed
containing three to seven people for furnishing a report on certain incident.

▪ Orderly Presentation: The information of a report is presented orderly so that the audience
can get his needed information from where it is located.

▪ Upward Flow: The direction of a report is always upward in the organizational structure. The
higher authority normally assigns the duty of preparing reports to their immediate lower
authority and after preparing the report, they submit it to their boss or higher authority.

▪ Some Additional Aids in Presentation: A report is always presented in an attractive way. In

addition, analytical reports contain executive summary, contents and index, necessary charts,
graphs and design and conclusion and recommendation etc.

▪ Signature and Date: It is customary to put the signature of the reporter with date at the end
of the report. If it is prepared by a committee, signature must be given by each member of the
committee.

Process of Writing Business report

Business report in an essential medium of communicating factual information within and

outside the organization. In writing a good report, the writer has to follow some sequential
steps.
The steps are as follows:

Determination of purpose: The first step in writing a report is to determine the purpose for
which the report is being written. Every report deals with specific problem. Therefore, the
writer should exactly know the nature of report problem. This step includes the answers of
what, why, and when to write to write the report.

Developing a working plan: After defining the problem and determining the purpose clearly,
a working plan should be developed. The working plan is used as a basis for outlining and
writing the report. Here the writer determines and lists down the scope of work to be done for
writing the report.

Collecting information: In this step, the writer will select the possible sources of
information. Information may be collected form primary and secondary sources. Primary
information can be obtained through observation and enquiring. On the other hand, secondary
information can be obtained from journals, newspapers, reports, books etc.

Organizing and analyzing the information: Here the collected information is organized
according to its nature. In this step, a lot of data will have to be rejected while it may be
needed to collect more additional data. In order to organize and analyze the information, the
writer takes help of various statistical techniques.

Arriving at conclusions: Basing on the data analysis, the reporter arrives at a conclusion.
The final pattern of report depends on this conclusion. If the writer fails to draw correct
conclusion, the report will fail to serve its purpose. Therefore, arriving at conclusion is an
important step in report writing.

Selecting the method of writing report: Once the writer has arrived at conclusions, the next
step is to select the writing method. There are two methods of writing report such as inductive
method and deductive method.

a. Inductive method: The inductive method arranges the report contents in the sequence
of introduction of background information, discussion and analysis, recommendations
and conclusions.

b. Deductive method: The deductive method arranges the contents in the sequence of
summary and recommendations, introduction, discussion and analysis.

These two methods are suitable for different situations. After selecting the appropriate
method, the writer goes for actual writing.

Writing and submitting the report: The process of writing a report ends with writing and
submitting the report. Before drafting the final report, the writer develops rough copy for
checking, editing and revision. In the rough copy, the writer checks the accuracy of
information, formation of sentences, grammatical accuracy, and style of presentation,
sequence of the contents etc. after all these checking and corrections, the final draft is
prepared and submitted to the concerned authority.