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Business reports

Business reports are a key aspect of professional life, regardless of whether you are studying business or any other subject. Learn how to write one with us.

What is a business report?

A business report or industry report is a document that summarises information about a particular investigation and sets out a series of recommendations or advice for decision-makers.

Business reports can take many forms and are written for different purposes, but they have overarching functions and structures that help the reader find information quickly and explain how the authors arrived at the recommendations proposed.

Most business reports aim to find solutions to an existing problem, summarise the results of an investigation or reasonably speculate and compare competitors on the success of a new project or area of interest for a business or company.

 

Structure of a business report

Business reports often contain all, or at least some, of the following sections:

  1. Title and cover page
  2. Acknowledgements
  3. Abbreviations
  4. Table of contents
  5. Executive summary
  6. Introduction
  7. Background
  8. Methodology (if applicable)
  9. Main body (with subsections)
  10. Results
  11. Discussion
  12. Recommendations
  13. Conclusion
  14. Bibliography
  15. Appendices

Below are the key elements of a business report explained in further detail:

Executive summary

 

Introduction

 

Background

 

Methodology

 

Results

 

Discussion

 

Recommendations

 

Conclusion

 

Appendix or Appendices

 
 

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