BUSINESS REPORTS
Business Reports:
A business report may be defined as
“an orderly and objective presentation
of information, that helps in decision
making and problem solving.”
Business Reports
 A report varies in purpose, length, format
and complexity.
 Inform
 Analyze
 Persuade
 Length, format and complexity
 Memo report
 Letter report
 Manuscript reports
Types Of Business
 Purpose
Reports
 Informational
 Analytical
 persuasive reports
 Frequency of preparation
 annual, monthly, weekly and hourly reports
 Length
 short and long reports
 Internal / External
Types Of Business
Reports
 Periodic reports
 Routine management reports
 Compliance reports
 Progress reports
 Proposals
 Policies and Procedures
 Situational reports
Parts of Report:
 Preliminary Parts
 Cover page
 Frontispiece
 Title Page
 Letter of Transmittal/ forwarding letter
 Preface
 Acknowledgements
 Table of Contents
 List of illustration
 The Executive Summary or abstract
Body of the Report
 Introduction
 Problem Statement
 Research Methodology
 Analysis, Findings
 Conclusions
 Recommendations
Parts of Report
 Appendix
 Bibliography or References
 Glossary
 Index
A Letter of Transmittal accompanies a business report and may take the form of a
simple memo with the following parts:
TO:
Dr. Rose Norman
FROM:
Heather Cross
DATE:
June 24, 2008
SUBJECT: EH 501 Final Report: An Analysis of Training Manuals for Peer Tutors in
Post-secondary Writing Centers
[Open with an overview.]
Enclosed you will find my final report for EH 501 entitled "An Analysis of Training Manuals for Peer Tutors in PostSecondary Writing Centers" due December 7, 1999. [Then state your main finding] From interviews with five writing
center directors and four consultants, I found that each writing center has its own unique circumstances for training. The
manuals from these same writing centers do contain some consistent areas of attention. The manual produced for the
University of Alabama in Huntsville Writing Center should reflect these findings.
[Then comes the descriptive abstract.]
The purpose of this report is to develop recommendations for a new training manual for peer tutors in a post-secondary
writing center. Initially the report gives a brief description of the writing center environment, pedagogy, and theory. For the
specific application of peer tutor training, the findings from interviews with Dr. Diana Calhoun Bell—director of the UAH
Writing Center, directors of other writing centers, and consultants are presented. The report compares information from
these practitioner inquiries with the content and form of the sample manuals obtained from three other university writing
centers and with the existing UAH manual. The report concludes with recommendations for the UAH Writing Center’s
Training Manual.
[Then add whatever else you need to say.]
After an initial email request to twenty-five writing centers, I was able to collect three peer tutor training manuals and receive
answers to interview questions from two other directors. I interviewed four consultants in the UAH Writing Center using an
abbreviated form of the questions. Dr. Bell has continued to express interest in this study and its continuation into an actual
product. I hope to undertake the writing of the UAH Writing Center Consultant Training Manual as an independent study in
the next semester.
Enclosure: Final Report (2 Copies)
Components in Formal and
Informal Reports
Bibliography
Appendix
Recommendations
Conclusions
Body
Introduction
Executive summary
List of figures
Table of contents
Letter of transmittal
Title page
Cover
Generally appear in both
formal and informal reports:
Optional in informal reports:
Steps in Report
Preparation:
 Planning the report
 type of report that is required – problem
 audience analysis
 Selecting a method to solve the
problem
 Primary/secondary
 Gathering and organizing data
 Arriving at a conclusion
 Writing the report
Steps in Report Preparation:
 Writing the report
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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