A business report can take many forms; a monthly sales report, an annual report, a management report focused on a specific aspect of the company, a government report investigating the company’s progress or legal compliances. A business report is used to communicate between employees of the business or to external organisations such as the government.
Before being sent out, a business report must be researched and appropriately written to the audience. The included information may come from statistics, interviews, questionnaires, and general business knowledge. All sources used should be fully cited. Detailed and quality information must be used for business reports as they are considered to be company documents.
The standard format for company business reports includes a title page, letter of authorisation and transmittal, introduction, contents page, conclusion, and bibliography.
The benefits of using business reports in your company are that they provide information about all aspects of the business and how it is working. Identifying strengths and weaknesses as a result of these business reports is much easier. Comparing this to the company’s history or to other competitor companies allows for development of the business and will positively impact upon its profitability.
One of the most important types of business report is financial, which details business growth through the company’s balance sheet. Disclosure of financial statements or preparation of a financial business report is typically required by the government. This is to ensure compliance with Company Law and relevant tax liabilities. As well as being useful to the government, financial business reports can be extremely advantageous in keeping on top of the company budget. Any investors or lenders may require evidence of how their money is being used by the company, and again financial business reports can be useful for this purpose.
It must be noted that business reports do have disadvantages, or limitations. They may not propose entirely accurate information and may be biased in some way if written internally or to project a certain company image. In addition, the process of writing a business report takes up time and money. The availability of information will limit the quality of the business report, so research is key for the body of the report. Differences in aspects such as tax liability, and accounting or business practices may also affect the overall report and should be taken into consideration.
In general business reports can be a beneficial aspect of business operations. The contributions to the progress and development of the company will be invaluable, but incorporating the time and expense involved should also be done to balance the efficiency and usefulness of the business report.