Corporate Finance

1. INTRODUCTION

The main purposes of a business report are to explain something that the reader did not know or understand before and/or to persuade them to take a particular action. There are many kinds of reports. Some reports are produced regularly, such as a monthly report on the budget. Alternatively, reports may be written for a single purpose, such as a proposal for purchase of a property.

It is important to ask yourself who will read your report and think about what they need to know. Will the audience be made up of specialists in your area or will most people be executives and only have a limited understanding of the concepts you are putting forward? Your thinking in this area will affect the style and the tone of the document.

Organisations vary in their requirements for presentation of business reports. As an employee you may be required to follow a ‘style guide’ or ‘style manual’ for all written communications, including reports. This workbook provides specific instructions on the requirements for your business report assignment, including the structure and the sequence of information.

2. THE STRUCTURE

The main elements in the structure of a business report are included in the following table. Use the table on the following page as a checklist for making sure your assignment meets the assignment requirements.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The table of contents provides a useful index of your report, indicating the section headings and the page number where they can be found. This workbook has a table of contents on the page immediately following the title page. Use a separate page with a heading (Table of contents) for this section. List the major headings and subheadings of the report on the left hand side. Make sure you make a distinction between headings and subheadings with font size, use of bold or indentation.