Reports are an integral part of business. Image credit entrepreneur.com

ZIMSEC O Level Business Studies Notes: Leadership: Communication in Business: Reports

  • A report is an account given of a particular matter, especially in the form of an official document, after thorough investigation or consideration by an appointed person or body
  • In business reports are often used to analyse and explain a situation, to propose and gain agreement to a plan
  • They are often logical, practical, persuasive and succinct
  • There are various types of reports in business including:
  • occasional reports-written to update on a situation
  • activity reports-written to sum up an event for example a meeting
  • status/progress reports-written to give a general review of activities within the business
  • And formal reports

Structure of a report

  • Report have various formats but typically they have:
  • A title which is a very short summary of the report
  • A table of contents
  • An executive summary of its contents
  • Introduction/background
  • Methodology which is the methods employed in gathering data  and reaching the conclusion and the logic for using said methods
  • Results and analysis
  • Discussions and conclusions
  • Recommendations
  • Appendices

Examples of reports

  • The financial reports that are released by companies(public limited companies) at the end of each financial year

Advantages

  • Help with monitoring business operations
  • Help managers to control the operations of the business
  • Guide the decision making process
  • They can be used in performance evaluations
  • Can be used to evaluate investment appraisals
  • Contain in-depth material
  • Provide a written record
  • Can be used to make comparisons for example Business A versus Business B”s performance
  • Fulfill regulatory requirements

Disadvantages

  • Take time to prepare
  • Can be costly to prepare
  • They can be biased
  • Technical reports can be hard to read and understand
  • They may neglect qualitative data in preference of quantitative data

To access more topics go to the O Level Business Notes page