How to Write a Business Report

A business report is a collection of data and analyses that helps make relevant information easily accessible to a company. There are many different types of business reports, but this guide will show you the basic outline.

Before You Begin:

    Think about your audience and their expectations, and plan your report accordingly. For example, are they expecting a formal or informal report? Do they have an understanding of the vocabulary/terms used? Do they require more background information? Do they need to be heavily persuaded?
    What is the purpose of the report? Make sure this is clear.
    Gather and organize your supporting information/data/visuals.
    Focus on the facts.
    Make sure to be clear and concise, so the report is easy for everyone to read and understand.
    Use a professional, standard font in a readable size.

Components of a Business Report

    Title Page
    Table of Contents: Depending on the length of the report, you might want to consider including a table of contents. This will make finding specific information easier for readers.
    Summary: This section includes a brief overview of the main points of the report and is usually a few sentences to a paragraph in length. If someone were to read this section, they would have an idea of the main takeaways from each section of the report.
        Tip: Even though this is the first section, consider writing this section after you have finished the report. This will help you determine which points are the most important to address.
    Introduction: This section outlines what you will be going over in your report. It includes the main points, chosen report structure, and, most importantly, the objective of your report.
    Body: The body is where you discuss the points of your report in detail. This section is divided by headings that inform your reader what information can be found in the following paragraph/s. The structure of this section will vary depending on the type of report, information/data you are relaying to the company, and whether or not a deep analysis is necessary.
        Examples of headings:
            Methods
            Findings
            Research
            Analysis
            Graphs
    Conclusion: In the conclusion, be sure to briefly summarize all of the main points in the order they were presented in the report.
    Recommendations: This section is where you provide your recommendations or suggestions based on the findings you noted in earlier sections. Indicate the potential benefits for the company to applying your suggestions.
    References: Be sure to cite all sources used in the report in this section.
    Appendices: In the Appendix, you can add relevant documents, surveys, graphs, etc. that you referenced in the report.

TASK 1

The company you work for is considering allowing employees to work from home, and your line manager has asked you to write a report on how this policy would affect your team.

Write a report for your line manager discussing the potential benefits and issues of allowing your team to work from home, and making recommendations on how your team should implement this new policy if it is introduced.

In your report, you should discuss and evaluate the views in the image.

You do not need to discuss all the views. You must include your recommendations.

You should use your own words as far as possible.

Write at least 250 words.

TASK 2
1. Look at this  writing task. Discuss with your partner:
a. What is the task topic?
b. What is the genre? (e.g. an essay, a report, a review etc.)
c. What is the purpose of the writing task? (e.g. to persuade, to inform, to complain etc.)

 Write your answer in 220–260 words in an
appropriate style on the separate answer sheet.
_________________________________________________________________________________
You have just finished a three-week study and work programme in an English-speaking country. You
studied English language in the mornings and worked for a local company in the afternoons. The
programme organiser has asked you to write a report about your experience. In your report, you
should evaluate the programme, explaining which part of the programme was more useful, and
suggest changes you would recommend for next year’s programme.
Write your report.

TASK 3

You have just completed six months in a new job. In preparation for a progress meeting, you have
been asked to write a report to your manager.
Your report should explain what you feel you have achieved in the job so far, describe any problems
you have had, and suggest any future training that would be suitable.
Write your report.

Any Company: Six-month progress meeting
Manager’s questions Notes :
• How are you finding things so far? Do
you think you are making progress?
• Are there any issues you’d like to tell us
about? How could we avoid these
problems? Could you suggest training
that would help?

 Role-play: With your partner, take turns to be the manager and ask the questions. After your
meeting, make notes of any relevant ideas in the table.

 Now you have generated some ideas, follow these stages to write your report.
1. Content – Analyse the task in terms of:
• topic
• genre
• purpose
2. Organisation and communicative achievement – Plan your writing:
• topic – which ideas are you going to use?
• genre – think about paragraph structure, headings, title, style and tone for your report?
3. Language – identify useful language – note phrases for introducing, evaluating and
suggesting/recommending
4. Write your report
5. Read, check and edit

For more language practice
You can get free feedback on your writing at Write & Improve.