- Business reports. You'll write a lot of them throughout your career in business, so it's probably worth you knowing what they're for, who they're for, and how to structure one. OK, so what are business reports for? 

- To give your boss some information about a particular topic that you've been asked to research. 

- It's a public relation instrument. 

- For people that want to invest maybe in companies. 

- A collective analysis of where the business is at and where it's going or what it could be. 

- Fundamentally, business reports are about communicating information. But perhaps more specifically, they provide information that can be acted upon. So you could say that business reports are a key part in the decision-making process of a business. So who are they for? 

- For the top managers. It could be for supervisors. 

- So for the top manager, of course. 

- I learned in school for all the stakeholders. 

- For management so that they can make decisions on certain things. 

- If reports are part of the decision-making process, then it's the decision makers of a business who are the audience of a business report. A business report aims to answer a question, solve a problem, or address an issue within the business. So the report will look at all the information, analyze and evaluate it, and then make recommendations for action. 

For this reason, the structure of a business report is really important. So a business report will have the following overall structure-- an executive summary followed by the introduction, body, and conclusion, and finally recommendations. Let's take a look at the structure in more detail. OK. So first up, the executive summary. 

- So it's like the cover letter really for the whole thing. It's just going to give you a really dot point, exactly what it's about, what the hopes are, what the findings are, where they've come from, and the general advice. 

- A specific but brief outline of what's in the business report. 

- To make it really quick and easy for your bosses because they don't have much time. 

- A common misconception is that the executive summary is an expanded version of the intro. Actually, the executive summary is-- wait for it-- a summary for the executive or a manager, or more specifically for a decision maker in the business. So it could be a peer. It's for the busy manager who may be rushing to catch a plane and needs to do a quick first pass over the report. So if you imagine the entire report, the executive summary is the entire report in condensed form. 

Another aspect of business reports that confuses people is the recommendations. Recommendations are sometimes treated like a rehashing of the conclusion or is the opportunity for a personal opinion on the report. Far from being some final afterthought or last-minute concluding words, the recommendations are the very practical, actionable items for the entire report, really the most important part. They present a decision maker with what should be done next. 

This is a good time to mention that the tone of a business report should be formal. It shouldn't be colloquial or written in the first person. It's a logical, factual, free from emotion or opinion reporting of the facts. 

So this leaves the bit in the middle, the actual report. The body of the report follows a standard decision-making process. It states the problem, identifies the background or context to the issue, presents a review of information, an analysis and evaluation of that information, and finally a discussion around the findings. To illustrate this approach, let's take the example of buying your first car. 

The report introduction starts with a clear stating of the purpose-- I need a car. The background, this is where you flesh out the problem and explain the context. So I now have a job and need a car to get there. It's a long trip. I only have $5k, but I care a lot about safety too. It's during the background that you will identify some of the criteria that will influence your analysis and evaluation. 

Next comes the search for information, also formally known as a literature review-- reading car magazines, reviews online, and looking at car ads. You might source some information yourself too, like test driving a few cars. Next comes the most important step, the analysis and evaluation of the information that has been gathered. Often, a theoretical framework is used as a tool to compare the different alternatives. 

Following the analysis and evaluation, the results are often formulated into a table like this one. It's comparing the different alternatives based on key criteria. Finally, a discussion is had on the findings, unpacking why one option would be better than another with justification for any suggestions. Car A and car B offer the best safety and reliability, but aren't within the price range. However, car C is not too bad on both and within the price range. 

The report is then concluded and the recommendations are presented, the final clear and actionable items for the report. So you can see why this process is so important when the recommendations may involve spending a few million dollars. The process of arriving at the recommendations needs to be clearly and logically documented. 

So that's the business report. It's a logical and essential tool in the decision-making process for a business. Each section from the executive summary through to the recommendations has a specific purpose. And the structure reflects the specific approach that needs to be taken in arriving at the actionable recommendations of the report-- information in, analysis, evaluation, and actionable items. Well, all the best with writing your next business report.