“There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why?
I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?”
George Bernard Shaw
How to Write a
Business Report?
Mohamoud A Mohamoud, PhD, MBA, CMngr, FHEA, ACMI, QMS
BoD Office, Golis Group, Puntland, Somalia
Email: [Link]@[Link], Tel: +252 90 7792 552
Why is writing a business report important
to the success of a business operation?
A useful tool to control the information flow
and the progress of the business activities
Writing a business report
An outline … 9 Key Questions
1. What is a report?
2. How to plan writing a report?
3. What is the typical structure of the report?
4. What style and format should be used in a report?
5. How to structure your paragraphs?
6. How to balance the overall structure of the report?
7. What is the checklist for a good business report?
8. What are the types of formal business reports?
9. Where can I get more information about report writing?
What is a report?
▪ A text written to clearly and effectively communicate, analyse and evaluate
relevant information
▪ Addresses specific issue or problem:
• Identifies, explores the issue, lists key findings and makes recommendations
▪ Commissioned when a decision needs to be made
▪ Necessary skills for communicating ideas and progress in business environment
So how can we define a business report?
▪ A collection of data and analysis that helps make relevant information easily
accessible to a company
▪ A formal document written to-the-point to convey information in a concise
yet clear manner
▪ An official document that contains factual information, statistical data, or any
other form of information relevant to the course of the job
▪ Majorly used for internal communication within an organization
▪ A type of upward communication in which communication process starts
from lower level to upper level, i.e., an employee makes a report and submits
to related upper person to make usage of it
Types of formal business reports
▪ Periodic reports: communicate the activities of on-going operations at regular
intervals, e.g. quarterly sales report
▪ Trip or conference reports: communicate experience and knowledge gained from
attending activities outside the organization, e.g. attending training seminars
▪ Progress or highlight reports: update management or supervisor on the progress of a
project or a process, e.g. development of a building site or installation of a BTS tower
▪ Feasibility reports: communicate whether a decision to pursue an action is feasible,
e.g. cost-benefit analysis report
▪ Business plan reports: what a new or existing company plans to do over the next
period of time, e.g. next year’s business plan (what, when, who, how and why)
Example … The issue of the report
A manager might commission a report that evaluates the current use of
computer technology in a company, and which recommends how the
company might best position itself so that it can benefit from any future
developments in computer technology
A progress report
▪ A document that explains in detail how far you’ve gone towards the
completion of a project or a routine work
▪ It is typically written for a supervisor, colleague, or client
▪ Depending on the scope and complexity of the work, you might need to give
a progress report weekly or monthly, or for every 25% work milestone
▪ The progress reports answers the following key questions:
• How much of the work is complete? • When and how will the remaining work be
• What part of the work is currently in completed?
progress? • What changes, problems or unexpected
• What work remains to be done? issues, if any, have arisen?
• How is the work going in general?
How to plan writing a report?
Key Questions
• What is the purpose of the report? Assist in decision making
• Who are the readers of the report? Senior Management, Public …
• What are the report’s main messages? Key information required
• How will the report be structured?
Reviewing
Scoping a report
literatures
Selecting methodologies
An important approach on
how to write a report?
Analysing and
Collecting data
interpreting data
Being ethical
Writing and
presenting your
report
What is the typical structure of the report?
• Cover letter
The cover letter:
• Title page • States the purpose of the report
• Executive Summary • Acknowledges any assistance
• Indicates future action to be taken
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
The Executive Summary:
• Body of the report
• Short summary of the whole report for busy executives
• Conclusions (readers)
• Helps the reader grasp the report’s purpose,
• Recommendations
conclusions and key recommendations
• References • Not more than 1-2 pages
• Appendices
How will the report be structured?
• Cover letter The Introduction:
• Brief background information – brief description of context
• Title page • Purpose
• Executive Summary • Scope – extent of the investigation
• Outline of the issues (key questions) 10-15%
• Table of Contents • Limitations of the report and assumptions made
• Introduction
• Body of the report The Body of the Report:
• Background information
• Conclusions 70%
• Theoretical Framework – why and how?
• Recommendations • Review of Literature – similar work done previously
• Methodology – procedures of data gathering
• References
• Findings – key answers of the questions raised
• Appendices • Discussion of Findings – interpretation and analysis of findings
How will the report be structured?
• Cover letter The Conclusions:
• Summarize the findings – say what they mean 5-10%
• Title page • Relate conclusion to report issues/problems
• Executive Summary • Avoid exaggeration or manipulating data
• Do not introduce new material – limit conclusion to the data
• Table of Contents presented
• Introduction
• Body of the report The Recommendations:
• Make specific suggestions for actions to solve the problem
• Conclusions
• Describe how recommendations should be implemented
• Recommendations • Arrange recommendations in order of importance
• Number the recommendations
• References 10%
• Appendices
How will the report be structured?
• Cover letter
• Title page The References:
• The list of books, articles, websites etc. sited in the report –
• Executive Summary
source of information
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Body of the report The Appendices:
• Supplementary materials enhancing the understanding of
• Conclusions
the reader
• Recommendations • Charts, tables, questionnaires and other information that too
detailed to include in the body of the report
• References
• Appendices
The basic outline of report structure
▪ Introduce the main idea and purpose of the report
▪ Explain and expand the idea defining key terms and concepts
▪ Present relevant evidence to support you points
▪ Comment on each piece of evidence showing how it relates to your points
▪ Conclude your report by showing the significance of your findings
▪ Recommend future course of actions
What style should be used in a report?
▪ Use effective headings and subheadings to signpost your work and number them
▪ Use illustrations, charts and tables to highlight relevant points where appropriate
▪ Use blank line between paragraphs
▪ Use appropriate font type and size – Calibri 12 pts (body of text, for example)
▪ Make paragraphs justified and consistent
▪ Use clear, concise and easy but professional language to read:
▪ Use short sentences, correct grammar and spelling, and proper use of punctuation and
capitalization
▪ Use examples where appropriate to illustrate arguments
▪ Proof-read and re-draft to re-organize your arguments
▪ Number your pages and leave 1 inch margins at the top, sides and bottom of pages
How to structure your paragraphs?
▪ Topic sentence – states main idea of the paragraph
▪ Explanation sentence – expands on the topic sentence
▪ Support sentences – give evidence for the idea in the topic sentence
and may include statistics, examples and citations
▪ Concluding sentence – answers the question of “so what?” and shows
your critical thinking ability
New information follows old information
Organisational pattern of report structure
The information may be arranged with:
▪ Focus on time – shows time period (previous, current, future) and tasks completed or
scheduled to be completed in each period
▪ Work accomplished in the preceding period(s)
▪ Work currently being performed?
▪ Work planned for the next period(s)
▪ Focus on specific tasks – shows order of tasks (defined milestones) and progress made
in each time period
▪ Focus on large goals – focuses on the overall of what have been accomplished
How to balance the overall structure of the report?
A balanced report with wider A report that potentially A report that potentially
context and depth analysis lacks focus and depth lacks context
Adopted from: Peter Stokes and Tony Wall, Research Methods, Palgrave 2014
The Checklist for a good business report:
❑ The reports fulfils its purpose
❑ The report is oriented to its intended readers
❑ The reports contains all appropriate elements (e.g. executive summary, table of contents,
introduction, key findings … etc.)
❑ The discussion has descriptive and appropriated formatted headings and subheadings
❑ The discussion contains thorough analysis of findings as well as logical flow
❑ The report has been proof-read for sentence structure, spelling, grammar, punctuation and
consistency
❑ Tables and figures are correctly formatted and labelled
❑ Quotations from other people are correctly referenced
❑ Thoughts and ideas paraphrased from other sources are referenced
❑ Reference list is formatted appropriately
❑ The cover page has all necessary details
❑ Appendices are used to support the discussion and the analysis of the report
Where can I get more information?
• Garner, B. A. (2013). HBR Guide to Better Business Writing. Harvard Business Review
Press.
• Emerson, L. (Ed.) (1995). Writing guidelines for business students. Palmerston North: The
Dunmore Press.
• Guffey, M. E., Rhodes, K., & Rogin, P. (2001). Business communication: Process and
product (3rd Canadian ed.). Scarborough, Ontario: Nelson Thomson Learning.
• Munter, M. (1997). Guide to managerial communication: Effective business writing
and speaking (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall
