SUGGESTED FORMAT FOR WRITTEN REPORTS

SUGGESTED FORMAT FOR WRITTEN REPORTS

The reports that are most popular in business are the stand-alone type and are prepared by individuals or teams and circulated to the concerned persons under cover of a letter. Although format of reports is influenced by the topic under study, a generalized format covers the followings:

1 Title page
2 Acknowledgement
3 Executive summary
4 Table of contents
5 Main body of the report
5.1 Introduction / Background
5.2 Defining the problem
5.3 Analysis of data, facts and supporting evidence
5.4 Conclusions
5.5 Recommendations
5.6 Implications for other functions in the organization
5.7 Appendices

All reports may not contain the topics suggested under the heading of „Main body of the report‟. Each of these items has been explained as follows:

(1) Title page
Every enterprise, organization and institution should standardize a format for use by all report writers. Among the many variations of the title page in use,

(2) Acknowledgement
In the compilation, analyses of data, facts etc for the preparation of the report, the individuals or the team might have requested and received valuable help and suggestions. It is a good practice to thank the persons individually or collectively for the help extended by them for the completion of the report.
The acknowledgement should normally cover not more than half-full A-4 size word processed page and should be signed by all the persons who have authored the report.

(3) Executive summary
The term „executive‟ has been derived from its usage in USA where „executive‟ are members of the top rung of the organization covering Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Operating Officer (COO), Chief Finance Officer (CFO), Chief Information Officer (CIO) etc. This is an extremely important page and must be written in very compelling language covering the main recommendations. first and if there are some useful recommendations, they go to the paragraph on detailed recommendations in the „main body‟ of the report. Since it is in writers‟ interest to not only attract the attention of senior executives but also induce them to read the entire report from first page to last, critical role of this section called „executive summary‟ cannot be over-emphasized.

(4) Table of contents
This is a must because most business reports run in to several pages. This page reveals the overall design of the report and guides the readers to the page number of any topics that they like to peruse.

(5) Introduction / Background
This section highlights the possible reasons for initiating this study / investigation. It should focus on how broken the existing process or situation is and its implications in terms of costs incurred by the company. Japanese always highlight the losses incurred by the firm in continuing with the existing system, procedure or practice. This approach builds / attracts supporters for the change(s) the report is going to propose.

(6) Defining the problem
After setting up the background in the introductory paragraph, writers must proceed to define the problem formally. A good definition of the problem would invariably incorporate the main purpose of the study. It would also indicate the direction of possible solution(s).

(7) Facts, Data and supporting evidence
Definition of problem also paves the way for compiling, examining and analyzing of the relevant data. This part may have to be spread over several headings that need to be sequenced properly in a logical manner.
Care must be taken not to clutter the body of the report with too much of data tabulation if conclusions are based on the overall summary of the data. In such cases, detailed tabulation should be shifted to appendices and only summary reported in the text. This enhances readability of the report and what is easy to read or see, is easier to comprehend. Process of mental assimilation is associated with a lot of abstraction and simplification.

(8) Conclusions
Having described all the relevant facts in the above paragraphs, it is now time to integrate the different parts of the investigation and come to a few clear conclusions. The intention of following this sequence is to convince the readers in a very logical manner about the soundness of approach and consequently the integrity of the conclusions arrived at. Also, it sets the stage for formulating the recommendations of the study.

(9) Recommendations
We have now readied the readers to focus on the recommendations. These must be drawn in the order of their importance to the company. This order may not follow the sequence of study. Since writers have to develop the Unique Selling Proposition (USP) in selling their suggestions for acceptance, sequence of presentation of recommendations can be quite different from the sequence followed in the findings.

(10) Implications
In most companies, decisions are taken by a group of managers. Many a good suggestions flounder because someone raises a question about its implications for other wings of the organization. To forestall such eventualities, it is always better to highlight implications, if any for other departments and functions.
In this paragraph itself, suggestions that can be replicated in other parts of the enterprise with considerable gains, should be highlighted. It must be remembered that these form the additional merits of recommendations that must be added to enhance the salability of recommendations.

(11) Appendices
In many detailed and technical investigations, a lot of tables, charts and graphs can be pushed back in to appendices. It serves two purposes:
 It improves readability of the report
 It adds to the credibility of the findings if supporting data is also furnished.

(12) Bibliography and webliography
Writers tend to minimize the role of providing the necessary references in the bibliography. It gives a very favourable impression of the team and highlights the efforts put in by them for the in-depth study carried out. In the contemporary world, searching the web for seeking the latest development on any subject has become very popular especially with management students. The specific web sites consulted should get proper mention in the bibliography. However, in no case, search engines should be mentioned as references as they are mere tools to get to a particular site, similar to going to library before one can consult a book!