Writing A Formal Report
Many business professionals need to write a formal report at some point during their career, and some professionals write them on a regular basis. Key decision-makers in business, education, and government use formal reports to make important decisions. As opposed to informational reports that offer facts and information without analysis, formal reports provide the end product of a thorough investigation with analysis.
Although writing a formal report can seem like a daunting task, the final product enables you to contribute directly to your company’s success. While you may write much shorter, more casual reports, it’s helpful to go into a bit of detail about formal reports.
Formal reports are modular, which means that they have many pieces. Most audience members will not read every piece, so these pieces should stand on their own. That means that you will often repeat yourself. That’s okay. Your audience should be able to find exactly what they need in a particular section, even if that information has been repeated elsewhere. While it’s fine to copy and paste between sections, you will likely need to edit your work to ensure that the tone, level of detail and organization meet the needs of that section. For example, the Executive Summary is aimed at managers. It’s a short, persuasive overview of everything in the report. The Introduction may contain very similar information, but it focuses on giving a short overview of everything in the report. Its goal is to inform, not to persuade.
Report Organization
Reports vary by size, format, and function. You need to be flexible and adjust your report to the needs of the audience. Reports are typically organized around six key elements/questions:
- Who the report is about and/or prepared for?
- What was done, what problems were addressed, and what were the results, including conclusions and/or recommendations?
- Where did the subject studied occur?
- When did the subject studied occur?
- Why was the report was written (function), including under what authority, for what reason, or by whose request?
- How did the subject operate, function, or how was it used?
Pay attention to these essential elements/questions when you consider your stakeholders. That may include the person(s) the report is about, whom it is for, and the larger audience of the organization. Ask yourself who the key decision-makers are, who the experts will be, and how your words and images may be interpreted.
While there is no universal format for a report, there is a common order to the information. Each element supports the main purpose or function, playing an important role in the transmission of information. There are several different organizational patterns that may be used for formal reports, but all formal reports contain front matter (prefatory) material, a body, and back matter (supplementary) items. The prefatory material is, therefore, critical to providing the audience with an overview and roadmap of the report. The body of a formal report discusses the findings that lead to the recommendations. The back matter provides additional information.
Title Page
The title page includes the report title, date of submission, name, title, and organization of the person who prepared the report. It also includes the name, title, and organization of the person receiving the report. If your report contains sensitive information or if it is going to be exposed to the elements, it might also contain a cover page. There is no page number.
Table of Contents
The table of contents is a list of the sections in the report and their respective page numbers. All headings/sub-headings in the report should be listed on this page. As a special note, this page is not labelled with a page number. Programs like MS Word, have an option that will automatically create a table of contents as long as you use heading styles in the report.
Executive Summary
The executive summary is a one-page overview of the entire report aimed at managers or people in a position of power. It discusses the managerial implications of your report: basically, what managers or other people who have the authority to approve your report need to know. Summarize the topic, methods, data/evidence, results, and conclusions/recommendations. The executive summary is on its own page and is labelled as page iii.
Introduction
The introduction introduces the topic of the report, states the purpose of the report, and previews the structure of the report. This section often contains similar information to the Executive Summary, but in a clear, factual manner. It begins on a new page and is labelled as page 1.
Body
Key elements of the report body may include the background, methods, results, and analysis or discussion. The body uses descriptive or functional headings and sub-headings (is not labelled “Body”). The pagination of the body continues from the introduction.
Conclusion and/or Recommendations
The report should have a concise presentation of findings in the conclusion section and/or recommendations on what should be done. Indicate the main results and their relation to the recommended action(s) or outcome(s). Note that not all reports have a recommendation section. Also, note that pagination continues from the body of the report.
References
Include a list of all references used in the report. Remember that all in-text citations included in the report should have an accompanying entry in the reference list. References begin on a new page with the title centred, and pagination continues from the conclusions and/or recommendations.
Appendix or Appendices
An appendix (or appendices) includes related supporting materials. All materials in the appendix (or appendices) must be referred to in the body of the report. Include only one item per appendix. Each appendix begins on a new page, is labelled as Appendix A, B, C, etc. and is given a title. The pagination for an appendix (or appendices) continues from the reference list.
Attribution
This chapter is an adaptation of 11.2 Writing a Formal Report by Venecia Williams & Nia Sonja and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. You can download this book free at Fundamentals of Business Communication Revised (2022) Copyright © 2022.
