Report writing and its steps

A report means an account given or opinion formally expressed for specific purpose after proper inquiry, investigation and consideration of facts affecting the situation. Business report is an objective and planned presentation of facts to one or more persons for specific business purpose.

A business report is an orderly , objective communication of factual information that serves some business purpose. By careful and critical study of the above definition the following features of business report are identified:

• Orderly: A business report is not a casual exchange of information, rather it is carefully planned, prepared and presented message.
• Objective: Objectivity means freedom from personal prejudices, presumptions and preconceived ideas. A business report should always be impartial, objective and based upon facts collected with open sensory receptors and presented truthfully.
• Communication: Business report is one of the ways of communication that involves transmission of meaning and understanding.
• Factual information: One of the ingredients of business report is factual information, events, records and other forms of data communicated in the course of business.
• Business purpose: A business report always serves some specific and significant business purpose. They are not designed for the sake of writing

Business report may travel inside or outside the organisation

Steps in business report writing

The actual process of writing business report can be divided into three stages like writing any message:

1. Prewriting stage:

          In prewriting stage following steps should be followed:

• Establish the purpose of your report.
• Determine the intended readers of your report, whether top, middle level management, general public, workers etc.
• Narrow down the subject to a few listed topics in the light of the purpose of the report.
• Collect the background research materials from libraries, industrial and government data on the relevant subject.
• Obtain information on the topic of the study by making personal observations, interviewing the concerned parties, asking and helping various concerned persons to fill up the questionnaire.
• Analysis and evaluate the collected data

2. Writing stage :

• After gaining and gathering the relevant information to be presented, next step involves outlining and organizing the matter in logical sequence to write the first draft of the report. Business report may be short, written in letter or memo form or long. The short report is written in informal way where as long report is prepared and presented in formal structure. Usually the short report is written in the following outlined structure:

           a. Subject and purpose of the report

           b. Data and its sources.

           c. Methods of study.

           d. Findings and conclusions

           e. Recommendations.

       

The long report has the following contents:

a. Title page contains all the identifying information i.e title of the report, name of the company recipitent, date and name of the writer.

b. Letter of authorization from the person authorizing to prepare the report.

c. Introduction describes the purpose of writing report, methods and sources of collecting data, definitions etc

d. Body contains the major findings of the study written under suitable headings and sub headings, graphic and pictorial presentation to show the point etc.

e. Conclusions highlight the findings in summarized form for easy and quick understanding of the report, even by skipping the body.

f. Recommendations enumerate the further actions to be taken by the concerned authorities to rectify the situation.

g. Bibliography lists all sources used in writing report, list of persons interviewed or corresponded and already references like other reports, articles, documents etc.

h. Appendices contain the information that supports the data in the body like charts, questionnaires, photographs etc.

3. Rewriting stage:

     The third stage of writing business report is rewriting stage that involves reviewing, revising and         recopying the matter already written, Before final draft is presented the report should be carefully       proofread and ruthlessly edited in the light various questions.Ideally, we should leave time to take       a break before you review our first draft. Be prepared to rearrange or rewrite sections in the light        of your review. Try to read the draft from the perspective of the reader. Is it easy to follow with a        clear structure that makes sense? Are the points concisely but clearly explained and supported by        relevant evidence? Writing on a word processor makes it easier to rewrite and rearrange sections        or paragraphs in your first draft. If you write your first draft by hand, try writing each section on a      separate piece of paper to make redrafting easier.