Business Memorandum

How to Write a Business Memorandum 1

Business Memorandum Guidelines

INTRODUCTION

Use this document as a guide when you develop the structure and content of your business

memorandum. The document has the following sections: general writing instructions,

memorandum layout example, visual support within the text and formatting instructions.

Information on the content requirements is included in the memorandum layout example.

GENERAL WRITING INSTRUCTIONS

▪ Prepare your memorandum using full sentences and paragraphs. ▪ Use plain language

How to Write a Business Memorandum 2

Coopers LLC Project Financials Approval Request 1

ME MOR AND UM

TO: Perri Lui, CEO, The Manufacturing Corporation

Kiran Desai, Legal Counsel, The Manufacturing Corporation

CC: Malik Washington, CFO, The Manufacturing Corporation

Alice Walker, Senior Process Technical Support

Coopers Project Proposal Team

FROM: Alex Hernandez, Project Lead, The Manufacturing Corporation

DATE: June 28, 2019

SUBJECT: Coopers LLC Project Financials Approval Request

Summary

In this section describe the context of the problem you are addressing, the problem you are

addressing, what you are asked to do or provide relative to that problem, the type of analysis you

will use, and the recommendation you are putting forward. This section provides readers a

complete overview of the document.

Analysis

In this section you will explain the logical (not mathematic) progression that takes you from the

problem to your recommendation. You will include a graphic that helps make your analysis

clearer.

Figure 1: Probability of Prostate Cancer based on PSA Results

Note: Be Sure graphics used are fully labeled and

easily readable.

How to Write a Business Memorandum 3

Coopers LLC Project Financials Approval Request 2

Specifically, the analysis will include:

§ The problem you were asked to address and any clarifying information, if any, you discovered when working on how to respond to the problem

§ What you were asked to do relative to this problem § The data you started with § Your analysis approach, and why it is a good approach to inform the problem § What you found in doing the analysis and how this informs your recommendation § Your recommendation and why it will address the problem presented.

Additional Considerations

In this section you address additional considerations. You must accomplish this without

undermining the recommendation you are making. Discuss how the additional considerations would inform the problem, how they would make the recommendation stronger, and what

additional data or information is needed to evaluate the them.

Conclusion

This is the bookend to the summary where you restate what you are addressing, how you

addressed it, and what your recommendation is. It is important that you word this differently

than the summary at the beginning; this allows readers a second chance to be clear on what you

are telling them. You may also include next steps when known.

How to Write a Business Memorandum 4

Figure 1: Business Memorandum Example

Coopers LLC Project Financials Approval Request 3

Appendix A* – Statistical Calculations

Appendices in a document are reserved for content that may be helpful to the reader but

would interfere with the document flow if included in the main text of the document. Documents may have multiple appendices, with each one addressing a separate topic.

Appendices should be referenced in the main part of the memorandum i.e. (see Appendix A

Statistical Calculations to review detailed calculations)

• Each appendix starts on a new page with “Appendix”, a sequential letter (starting with A) and a descriptive title. If there is only one appendix the letter in the title is not

required.

§ For this work include your statistical calculations as your appendix. If you have additional research that you do not want to include in the body, but could be helpful to

readers, it may be included as another appendix.

* Only use letters in the appendix title if there are multiple appendices

How to Write a Business Memorandum 5

VISUAL SUPPORT WITHIN THE TEXT (this is not a stand-alone section of the document but is integrated within various parts of the document to enhance clarity for readers.)

Using graphics in your professional documents can be helpful in expanding the readers understanding of the material being presented. For this reason, graphics should be included

in this document. The information below provides guidance on how to accomplish this. Use of Graphics ▪ Do not start your document with a graphic. ▪ If you find you are using more than two sentences to present your data or analysis,

consider the use of tables, graphs, or charts. ▪ Place graphics near where you are discussing the material contained in them and

reference the graphic in your document to identify its value to the document – i.e. “(see Figure 1: Field of Operation Crash Data (2010-2015) to see the overview of the data”)

▪ Leave two lines above and below the table, or figure with its number and title and the body of the text to set it apart from the document text. Horizontally Center the graphic on the page.

Identification of Graphics ▪ Tables are labeled above as “Table #: Brief table description”. Figures are labeled below

as “Figure #: Brief figure description”. Number tables in your document starting a 1,

figures also start at 1 both a numbered independently (This means if you have both figures and tables they will each start at number 1.) i.e. Figure 1: Field of Operation Crash Data (2010-2015)

Be sure to include identification of all table and chart elements and a key where it is needed to identify the image or table elements.

GENERAL FORMATTING

This section provides formatting information for your memorandum. If you do not know how to

accomplish any of the formatting requirements, there are many good online resources, please

consult them.

▪ Page: 8 ½ x 11 inch plain white paper portrait (vertical) layout.1 ▪ Margins: one-inch margins on all sides ▪ Footer:

▪ Justified left: the subject line text of your memorandum. ▪ Justified right: page number (number all pages, starting with the first page.)

▪ Font Style: Times New Roman except for the Memorandum title (see below)2

1 There are memorandum templates available through Word templates and other sources. However, many of these use graphics that are not appropriate for professional documents. As a rule the only header/footer graphics that you

should use for a professional memorandum would be your company letterhead. 2 It is widely accepted that serif fonts are easier to read in large blocks of text. Times New Roman and other serif fonts are thus most commonly used in the body text of print documents. On the other hand, san serif fonts are often

used for titles and sub-titles in documents to make them stand out. San serif fonts are also more frequently used for

online information as they are seen as being more legible on screen.

How to Write a Business Memorandum 6

▪ Font Size: 12 point. (You may go down to 11 point, if it helps you keep the last few lines of a memorandum from ending on a page alone. Keep font size consistent in the document unless

otherwise specified.

MEMORANDUM HEADER

This section addresses both the format and content of the memorandum header which is appears

only on the first page of the memorandum. The elements of the memorandum header are the

addressee(s) (to), person or people copied (CC), the writer (from), the date, and the subject of the

memorandum. (see Figure 1 to see the finished appearance of the header.)

▪ “Memorandum” Title ▪ Location: Top line of the first page of the memorandum, Centered horizontally. ▪ Font Style: Ariel Bold or Helvetica Bold, all capital letters ▪ Font Size: 14 point ▪ Type in bold font and capital letters MEMORANDUM3 ▪ Add lines margin-to-margin lines above and below to accent the title (see Figure 1). Use

the insert – shapes – line tool for this. After drawing the lines in you can reverse click on

the line and adjust the color, line style and line thickness.

Return to Times New Roman 12 point font

Below is the set-up of the identifying elements of the memorandum header. After setting up

each of these elements you will fill in the appropriate information for this memorandum for each

element. This information will start 1 inch from the margin or 2 inches from the edge of the

page. To accomplish this use the ruler function (insert/ruler). On the left side of the ruler at the

top of the document find an arrow pointing to the right (if it is some other tab marking click on it

until the arrow appears and then click on the one inch mark on the ruler to set the tab at one inch.

After this you can tab over to insert the document specific information for the line.

▪ Addressee(s) ▪ Location: Space down three lines (at 12 point font) and justified to the left ▪ Type in bold font and capital letters TO: ▪ Set tab, tab to one inch and add the name and title of the person the document is

addressed to.

▪ (Carbon) Copies4 ▪ Location: Space down two lines ▪ Type in bold font and capital letters CC: which stands for carbon ▪ Set tab, tab to one inch and add the groups or individuals the document is copied to. If it

is individuals, include their title and position.

3 When a document is addressed to a more familiar and hierarchically close audience you may use ‘Memo” rather than memorandum as the document title. When you are going up the chain of command or outside you work group

it is better to be more formal and use the full term – Memorandum. 4 The term “carbon copy” or its acronym CC originate when copies were made by using carbon paper between pages being typed to produce a copy of the document while typing it.

How to Write a Business Memorandum 7

Figure 2: Memorandum Title and Header Example including Content Example

▪ From ▪ Location: Space down two lines ▪ Type in bold font and capital letters FROM:. ▪ Tab over 1 inch from the left margin and type the name of the author(s) of the

memorandum their title(s) and their organization(s)

▪ Date ▪ Location: Space down two lines ▪ Type in bold font and capital letters DATE:. ▪ Tab over 1 inch from the left margin and put the date the memorandum will be

distributed.

▪ Format the date as month (spelled out fully), day, and year (see Figure 2) ▪ Subject

▪ Location: Space down two lines ▪ Type in bold font and capital letters SUBJECT:; ▪ Tab over 1 inch and type a descriptive title for the document capitalizing the key words.

Edit the title to make it as short as possible while being descriptive enough to inform the

outside reader what is addressed by the document.

▪ For example, if you are requesting funding for new ambulances, a subject line that says “Funds Request” is not enough detail, while “Funding Request for 2020

Ambulances for Stations 64, 67, 82 and 95” is too much detail. A more ideal title

would be “2020 Ambulance Funding Request”

▪ Include a line below the header that goes across the page margin-to-margin.

MEMORANDUM BODY - FORMAT

ME MOR A ND U M

TO: Perri Lui, CEO, The Best Company Kiran Desai, Legal Counsel, The Best Company

CC: Malik Washington, CFO, The Best Company Alice Walker, Senior Process Technical Support Coopers Project Proposal Team

FROM: Alex Hernandez, Project Lead, The Best Company

DATE: February 10, 2019

SUBJECT: Coopers LLC Project Financials Approval Request

1-inch margin

all sides 1-inch

How to Write a Business Memorandum 8

Section Set-Up ▪ Set up your document single spaced. Add a blank line between paragraphs. ▪ Each section of the document has a title in bold font, on a line above the text for that

section. ▪ For this assignment the title the sections, do not use numbers