How to write a report
In this article you will learn about:
Why business reports are important
How to prepare a report
The 6 elements of a good report
Reporting template examples
Why business reports are important
Most businesses set short and long-term objectives. These objectives can be focused on a variety of different goals: becoming more profitable or efficient, or growing the customer base, to name a few. It’s important to measure how well the business is meeting these objectives. Understanding how the different areas of your business are performing helps to you assess where your business is strong, where it is not as strong and helps you decide what to do to improve the weaker areas so that can meet your objectives.
How to prepare a report
Planning – define the objectives of the report, who is the report being prepared for, what is its purpose, how will information be collected and presented, and how will information be used to assist in the decision-making process..
Consider investing in automated tools to create your report. Looker Studio https://lookerstudio.google.com/overview (previously known as Google Data Studio) is a data visualisation tool which transforms data into easy-to-understand management reports.
Or try Microsoft Power BI, an interactive data visualisation software product which focuses on business intelligence. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKTSLffVGbk]
Use clear and objective language. The report should be easy to read and interpret.
Tell a story to engage the reader. Business and management reports can be overwhelming with lots of data and information. To make the content more attractive to the reader, contextualise the facts by telling a story; explain and describe the situation being analysed. Not only does this make the data more understandable, but it also helps to engage the reader.
Define how you are measuring performance and the key performance indicators (KPIs) being tracked.
Establish a point of comparison – either the period in which you are collecting and analysing information (for example year-on-year or the same quarterly period trend such as the fourth quarter performance over a five year period) and define the goals or targets.
Include visual elements such as tables, charts, graphs, mental maps and even videos. The visual elements you choose to include will depend on the target audience of the report. An internal report, for example, may include table, charts and graphs, while a report to an external audience may use a video.
Do a final check to make sure there are no spelling mistakes or information that is not accurate in the report.
The 6 elements of a good report
A title helps identify the subject quickly and efficiently. The title should help the reader to identify the subject of the report. For example: The impact of the X marketing campaign on sales in Q2.
Provide context so that the reader understands what the report is about
Include the objective of the report. Check that all the information you include relates back to the objective
Include an executive summary of the most relevant information. This should include only the most relevant information in the report.
Results should be presented in the form of statistics, tables, charts and performance metrics
Don’t forget to add a conclusion. The conclusion should include insights that can be drawn from the data and the key actions to address the findings of the report.
Report template examples
To help you get started, here are links to some sample reports.
Monthly Business Management Report
A final thought
Writing a management report is easier than you think!
What can you do now?
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Key Takeouts
Management reports help businesses analyse the business’ situation more accurately and reconsider what is not working.
