BUSINESS REPORTS

A business report may be defined as an orderly and objective presentation of information, that helps in decision making and problem solving.

 Purpose
Informational Analytical Persuasive

Frequency of preparation
annual, monthly, weekly and hourly reports

Internal / External Length, format and complexity

Memo report Letter report Manuscript reports

Prefatory Part
Cover page Frontispiece Title Page Letter of Transmittal/ forwarding letter

Preface
Acknowledgements Table of Contents List of illustrations Executive Summary or abstract

Body of the Report Introduction

Problem Statement, research objectives, scope,

background, limitations
Research Methodology
Research design, sampling design, data collection

Analysis, Findings

Conclusions
Recommendations

Supplemental Part
Appendix
Questionnaires, raw data, complex tables

Bibliography or References

Glossary
Index

 Chitakornkijsil, Pranee, (Fall 2010), Intercultural

Communication Challenges and Multinational Organization Communication, Journal of Organizational Innovation (online), 3:2, 6-20.
Guffey, Mary Ellen, (2000), Business Communication:

Process & Product, South Western, USA.

 Leave one inch margin on top, bottom and right and

one & a half inch on left Use Times New Roman Font, type 12 for content and 14 for main headings Put the headings and subheadings in bold, capitalize each word (dont use upper case or underline) Back matter is not paginated Front matter is paginated with Roman numerals and the body in Arabic Use decimal numbering if the content permits

Components in Formal and Informal Reports

List of figures Table of contents Letter of transmittal Title page Cover

Bibliography Appendix Recommendations

Conclusions Body

Introduction

Executive summary

Generally appear in both formal and informal reports:

Optional in informal reports:

 Planning the report

Draft the SOP
Conduct an audience analysis

Identifying the methods of data

collection

Primary/secondary

Gathering and organizing data Arriving at a conclusion Writing the report

 Set a date for completion of the report &

get started early Start with an easy section Write quickly, with the intention of rewriting Set aside uninterrupted writing time Review and rewrite where necessary State facts in an objective manner

 Provide expert opinions

Use documentation Footnotes

Use concrete nouns Avoid pronouns referring to the writer

or reader Use tenses correctly Use transition sentences Define key terms carefully