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Report Writing lntroduce yourself to the subj€ct of report writing by assuming the role of administrative assistant to the president

of Technisoft, lnc. Much of your work at this large software company involves getting information for your boss'

Yesterday, for example, you looked into the question of excessive time spent by office workers web surfing. A

few days earlier, you worked on an assignment to determine the causes of unrest in one of the local branches.

Before that assignment you investigated a supervisor's recommendation to change an evaluation process. You

could continue the list indefinitely, for investigating problems is a part of your work.

So is report writing, for you must write a report on each of your investigations. You write these reports for good

reasons. Written reports make permanent records. Thus, those who need the information contained in these repons

can review and study them at their convenience. Written reports also can be routed to a number of readers with a

minimum of effort. Unquestionably, such reports are a convenient and efficient means of transrnitting information.

Your repofi-writing work is not unique to your job. ln fact, report writing is common throughout the company. For

example, the engineers often report on the technical problems they encounter. The accountants regularly report to

management on lhe company's financial operations. From time to time, production people repod on various aspects

of operations. The salespeople regularly report on marketing matters. And so it is throughout the company' Such

reporiing is vital to your company's operations-as it is to the operations of all companies'

Writing to external audiences can also be critical to an organization's success, ll the organization is a consuliing

firm, reports to the client may be its primary deliverable. lf the company is publicly traded, it is required by law to

publish financial reports to the government and to shareholders. Depending on the nature of its business' a company

may have to write reports to various agencies about its impact on the environment, its hiring practices, or its compli-

ance with quality standards, Sometimes reports are written by individuals. lncreasingly, however, they are prepared in collaboration with

others. Even if one person has primary responsibility for a report, he or she will often need contributions from many

people. lndeed, report writing draws on a wide variety of communication skills, from getting information to presenting

it clearly, This chapter and the following two chapters describe the structure and writing of this vital form of business

communication.

How often you write reports in the years ahead will depend on the size and nature of the organization you work for. If you work for a very small organization (say, one with fewer than 10 employees), you will probably write only a few But if you work for a midsize or larger organization, you are likely to write many, In fact, the larger the organization, the more reports you are likely to write. The explanation is obvious, The larger the organization, the greater is its complexity; and the greater the complexity, the greater is the need for information to manage the organization.

The nature of the business can also influence the number and type of reports you will write. The Securities and Exchange Commission requires all publicly traded busi- nesses to write certain financial reports at regular intervals. A consulting firm's whole business efTort may be directed toward infbrmational and advisory reports to its clients, A business performing work under government contracts will also have special report- ing needs. The frequency with which you will write reports. and the kinds you will write, will depend on your employer. But you can be fairly certain that report writing will figure significantly in your business career.

DE,FINING REPORTS You probably have a good idea of what reports are. Even so, you would be likely to have a hard time defining them. Even scholars of the subject cannot agree, for their defini- tions range from one extreme to the other. Some define reports to include almost any prescntation of information; others limit reports to only the most formal presentations.

Reports are vital to large ' organizations.

The nature of the business also determines how many and what kinds of reports are needed.

Repori writing is likelY to be important in your career.

A business report is an orderly and obiective communication of factual information that serves a business purpose.

CHAPTER l0 Basics of Report Writing 293

The key words are orderly, objective, communication, factual infarmation, and serves a business purpose.

Work on a repoft begins with a business need (problem),

Your first task is to get the problem clearlY in mind.

For our purposes, this middle-ground definition is best: A business ,"part is an orderly antl objective conxmunication of factual information that serves a bttsiness purpose.

The key words in this definition deserve emphasis. As an orderly communication, a

report is prepared carefully. Thus, care in preparation distinguishes reports from casual

eichanges of information. The objective quality of a report is its unbiased approach. Reports seek to present facts. They avoid human biases as much as possible. The word

communication is broad in meaning. It covers all ways of transmitting meaning: speak- ing, writing, drawing, and such. The basic ingredient of reports is factual infotmation. Factual information is based on events, records, data, and the like. Not all reports ar€ business reports. Research scientists, medical doctors, ministers, students, and many others write them. To be classified as a business report, a report must serve a business purpose.

This definition is specific enough to be meaningful, yet broad enough to take into accolrnt the variations in repofis. For example, some reports (information reports) do nothing more than present facts. Others (analytical reports) go a step further by includ- ing interpretations, sometimes accompanied by conclusions. Recommendation reports go further yet, presenting advice for future action. There are reports that are highly for- mal both in writing style and in physical appearance. And there are reports that show a high degree of informality. Our definition permits all of these variations'

DETERMINING THE REPORT PURPOSE, your work on a report logically begins with a need, which we refer to generally as the

prcblemin the foliowing discussion. Someone or some group (usually your superiors)

needs information for ibusiness purpose. Perhaps the need is for information only; perhaps it is for information and analysis; or perhaps it is for information, analysis' and

i"co*m"ndations. Whatever the case, someone with a need (problem) will authorize you to do the work. Usually the work will be authorized orally. But it could be autho-

rized in a written message. After you have been assigned a report problem, your first task should be to get your

problem clearly in mind. Elementary and basic as this task may appear' all too often it is done haphaiardly. And all too often a report fails to reach its goal because of such

haphazardness.

The Preiiminary Investigation Getting your problem clearly in mind is largely a matter of,gathering all the informa-

tion ne-eded to understand it and then applying your best logic to it. Gathering the right

information can involve many tasks, depending on the problem' It may mean gathering

material from company files, talking over the problem with experts, searching through

print and electronic sour""*, and discussing the problem with those who authorized the

report. In general, you should continue this preliminary investigation until you have

the information you need to understand your problem.

l{eed for a Ciear Statement oi the Problcm After you understand your problem, your next step is to state it clearly' Writing the problem statement is good practice for several reasons. A written statement serves as

u tt"tptut touchstone, [eeping you on track as you continue through the project. In ad-

dition, a written statemenl can be reviewed, approved, and evaluated by people whose

assistance may be valuable. Most important of all, putting the problem in writing forces you to think it through.

Theproblem statementn-ormally takes one of three forms: infinitive phrase, question'

or declarative statement. To illusirate each, we will use the problem of determining why sales at a certain store have declined:

l. InJinitive phrase: "To determine the causes of decreasing sales at Store X." ?. Question: "What are the causes of decreasing sales at Store X?"

PART 4 Fundamentals of Report Writing

To do this, you should begin by gathering all the information you need to understand the Problem.

Then you should express the problem clearlY, preferably in writing.

The problem statemenl may be (1)an infinitive phrase, (2) a question, or (3) a declarative statement,

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iterpnrt-Writing Fractices ancl the !iarb;rnes-Oxley,{ct

Changes in the regulatory environment can have a signilicant impact on the kinds of reporting that companies musl do. One of the most major changes in recent history was the adoption of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002J The law, which applies to all publicly traded companies, is intended to prevent financial scandals like those involving Enron, ArthurAndersen, Tyco, and WorldCom and to restore investor confidence. lt requires companies to submit periodic reports on their financial prac- tices to outside audit committees and assessments of those practices to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), beyond the financial repofts they were already submitting (such as their annual 10-K reports). But chief financial officerc are not the only ones writing more reports. Managers, office personnel, and information lechnology professionals also must do much more repoding on procedures and controls involving financial transactions and record keeping. And the process of bringing these companies into compliance has generated thousands of internal directives and reports.

You will not be able to predict all the kinds of reports you may be asked to write. At any moment, your company, its needs, or its environment may change. You must be ready to adapt with your problem-analysis, data-gathering, interpret- ing, and writing skills.

"For further information, see the Securities and Exchange Commission website at <http://www.sec.gov/about/laws.shtml#sox20o2> and the Beginner's Guide website at <http://beginnersguide.com/aCcounting/sarbanesoxley/>.

3. Declqrative statement: "Store X sales are decreasing, and management wants to know why."

You may use any of the three forms for stating the report problem. All of them should give a problem statement with equal clarity and with the same intended meaning.

One way to make sure you have the problem clearly in mind is to state it in one form (say the infinitive phrase) and then state it again in another form (say the question fbrm). No differences in meanings should exist between the two problem statements. If there are differences, you should rethink the report problem for clarity before you proceed further in the report process,

understand, though, that no matter how earnestly you've tried to frame the prob- lem correctly, your conception of it may change as you continue with your research. As Chapters 1 and 5 point out, effective writing often involves a certain amount of revisiting earlier steps (rectffsivify). You may need to revise your conception of the probiem as you gather more information. But a clear statement of your problem-solv- ing purpose at any given point is essential, both to guide your research and ro let others know where you are headed. It will also be an essential component of the infocluction for your finished report and of other front matter intended to orient your readers (for example, the letter of transmittal and executive summary).

DETERMINING THE FACTORS After stating the problem, you determine what needs to be done to solve it. Specifi- cally, you look for the factors of the problem. That is, you determine what subjecl areas you must look into to solve the problem.

Problem factors may be of three types. First, they may be subtopics of the over- all topic about which the report is concerned. Second, they may be hypotheses that must be lested. Third, in problems that involve comparisons, they may be the bases on which the comparisons are rnade.

L.lsc of 5ubto1:ics in ii:fornlari$n fteports If the problem concerns a need fbr information, your mental effort should produce the main areas about which information is needed. Illustrating this type of sitriation is

One form is not superior to the others.

State the problem in several forms. The meaning should be the same.

You may need to revise your problem statement as you continue your research.

Next, you should deterrnine the factors of the problem,

The factors may be subtopics of the overall topic, hypotheses, or bases for comparison.

Subtopics of the overall topic are the factors in information reports.

CHAPTER 10 Basics of Report Writing 295

Most email messages are written informally.

Some resemble letters and follow letter form,

Some are repofts. Such email reports tend to be formal, factual, and problem related.

There are many types of shorl reports. Here we cover five common types.

Routine operational reports keep others informed about company operations.

The form and content will vary, depending on the company,

These repons should deliver the required intormation efficiently, clearly, and on time.

Your word-processing program's template macro or merge feature can save you time on routine reports.

Because ernail is primarily communication between people who know each other, it is usually informal. In fact. many are hurried, casual messages. Some email, how- ever, is fbrmal, especially reports directed to readers high in the administration of the organization.

As indicated in Chapter 5. some email messages resemble letters. Others, however, are more appropriately classified as reports. Most email reports tend to be more formal and factual. In fact, some email reports rival the longer forms in formality. Like the longer forms, they may use headings to display content and graphics to support the text. Email reports tend to be problem related.

TYPES OF SHORT REPORTS Because organizations depend heavily on short reports, there are many varieties, writ- ten for many different purposes. We cover some of the most common types herc, but the form they take will vary fiom company to company. Also, most companies will have developed cerlain unique report forms for their special purposes. Always study your company's ways of reporting before contributing a report yourself.

ltoutjne Operationai ll"eports The majority of the reports written within companies are routine reports that keep supervisors, managers, and team members informed about the company's operations. These can be daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly reports on the work of each depart- ment or even each employee. They can relate production data, information on visits to customers, issues that have arisen, or any kind of information that others in the orga- nization need on a routine basis.

The form and contents of these reports will vary from company to company and manager to manager. Many will be submitted on predesigned forms. Others may not use forms but will follow a prescribed format. Still others will be shaped by the writ- er's own judgment about what to include and how to present it. The nature and culture of the organization can heavily influence the forms taken by these reports. One innova- tive format for weekly reporting is the 5-15 report.l

The name comes from the fact that it is intended to be read in 5 and written in 15 minutes. Its typical three-part contents are a description of what the employee did that week, a statement about the employee's morale and that of others he or she worked with, and one idea for how to improve operations. Clearly, this format would work best in an organization where employees have nonroutinized jobs and the management vaiues the employees' opinions.

Whabver the form, the routine operational report should convey clearly and quickly what readers most need and want to know about the time period in question. It is also an opportunity for you, the writer, to showcase your ability to gather needed informa- tion on deadline.

When using standardized forms for periodic reports, you should consider develop- ing a templaie macro or merge document with your word processing software. Amacro would fill in all the standard parts for you, pausing to let you fill in the variable infor- mation. A template merge document would prompt you for the variables first, merging them with the primary document later. However standardized the process, you will still need to be careful to gather accurate information and state it clearly.

Ilrogress lleprclvls You can think of an internal progress report as a routine operational report except that it tends to be submitted on an as-needed basis and, as its name implies, it focuses on

r For a fuller description and history, see Joyce Wycoff, "5- I 5 Reports; Coirmunication for Dispersed Organizations,"

2001. InnovationNet* ork. 8 \lay 2006 <http://www.thinksmart.com/articles15l5-report-s.html>.

PART 4 Fundamentals of Report Writing

Progress reports review progress on an activity.

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