Report Format: Elements And Example Report

Reports are a necessary part of a lot of jobs, as well as an integral part of business communication and record keeping. Knowing how to write an effective report can help with your career advancement, keeping track of information, and making sure that the right information ends up in the right place.

If you’ve been asked to write a report, read a report, or just want to know what a report is and how it works, this article will explain how to write one and why they’re important. Business writing is inherently regimented, which makes it easier for people to fill in for each other, and also helps with being able to pull out the relevant information quickly.

Key Takeaways

• A work report is a document that presents information relevant to a part of your job.

• Three of the most important elements of writing a work report are knowing your reader, determining your purpose, and making an outline.

• All work reports should have a title page, summary/abstract, table of contents, statement of purpose, body, and conclusion.

What is a work report?

The concept of a work report is simple – you’re presenting a document that shares information relevant to or part of your job. You’re most likely the expert or best authority on the topic you’re asked to discuss – that’s why you were tasked with the report.

Reports can take any number of forms, as long as they start as a written document. You can choose how you present your information or ideas, but you need to make sure whatever you write presents everything clearly.

Common reports people are asked to write for their jobs include memos, daily reports, sales analyses, meeting minutes, progress reports, annual reports, and compliance reports.

How to write a work report

A work report can be any number of different documents on any number of subjects. However, business writing has dos and don’ts that you still need to follow. Maintaining professionalism is paramount, and a lot of that is prioritizing brevity. However, there are other aspects to consider as you draft your report.

1. Know your reader. The most important but often overlooked part of writing a report is making it relevant to your readers. Before you write anything down, think about who could be reading your report so you can present the information in the best way.

   If you know it’s only your manager who wants to read a report on your progress of a project they’re deeply involved in, you’ll write differently than if you need to share your latest sales insights with the whole sales team and executive board.

   Knowing how much background info to give, what technical parts to explain thoroughly, and how much jargon to include in your report is important to make it useful. You need to know your audience and anticipate their needs when reading your report.

2. Determine your purpose. Every report has some kind of goal to achieve. Maybe you just need to update your supervisor on your work for the week, or you need to present your ideas on how to restructure the HR department.

   No matter your end goal, you need to make sure it’s clear before you set out to write your report. This will help you determine what information is important and relevant to the report, so you don’t overstuff it and overload your reader with too much extra background.

   Selecting the facts or ideas you share is key to providing a thorough report without diving too far into the weeds. Keeping your audience in mind is a great way to know what does and doesn’t need to be included.

3. Do your research. Depending on the nature of the report, this is either paramount or less important. Either way, you want to make sure that you’re up to date on the information you’re including in the report, and that you’re familiar with it. Generally speaking, if you’re the person writing the report you’re the subject matter expert, so make sure you’re prepared.

   If it’s a research report or a status report, then including statistics, charts, or other visual aids is a must. And that means that you need to understand what you’re talking about — which means research.

4. Make an outline. Keeping all of the different pieces of your business report clear can be hard, so help yourself out and create an outline. You should always have a few key elements, like a title page, a summary, a table of contents, a statement of purpose, the body of the report, and a conclusion.

   Structuring your work report ahead of writing is an excellent way to make sure you hit all of the points that you need to. It can also help you make sure your report flows well in a logical order.

5. Keep it short. Your coworkers will thank you if your report is concise but thorough. There’s no need to get fancy and make your report longer than it needs to be.

   The odds are that your colleagues have other things to attend to, and reading your report isn’t at the top of their list, so keep it as short as you can without losing the necessary detail or background information.

   But, as you write, make sure you maintain a professional tone. This is, after all, a piece of professional writing, and your report should reflect that.

6. Read through again. Once you have your report written, make sure you proofread it. Strong writers always take the time to edit their work, and going back again will allow you to check for grammar mistakes and make sure your writing is clear. You should take this chance to cut out any information that doesn’t need to be included or add clarification where your reader might have questions.

   The best thing you can do is finish your report, put it aside for at least a few hours, then go back and read it over with fresh eyes. Having a friend or coworker giving it a read before sharing it doesn’t hurt either.

Work report format

While there are many types of work reports, they should follow the same general format. The proper way to create an official report is to have a title page, summary, table of contents, a statement of purpose, a body, and a conclusion. Other sections can be added, and in informal correspondence, like memos, you may not need all of them.

• Title page. Your report’s first page should be a title page that includes the project name, your name, your position, the date, and the company name. This can help give context to your work and give you credit for preparing the report.

• Summary/abstract. Giving your readers a quick summary gives them the context of your report and can help them refresh their memories after they’ve read it. You can just include a few sentences to share the big picture of your report in this section.

• Table of contents. If you have a particularly long report for work, you should include a table of contents, so your readers don’t get lost. You can just outline the different sections of the body of your report so they can easily find the information they need when they go back to review it.

• Statement of purpose. You need to give your report an intro that states why you’re writing this report, why it’s important, and any other introductory information that’s important. It can be a brief introduction, but you should give some context and information, so your reader knows what to expect.

• Body. This will be the longest section of your report. You need to provide all of the information you wish to communicate in this part of the report and properly explain everything. Depending on what you need to share, this section can be a paragraph or pages long. Feel free to break up your body into more sections so that your reader can follow along better.

• Conclusion. The conclusion should include any wrap-up information you want to include, like suggestions for the future, big takeaways, or summarizing your learnings. The conclusion shouldn’t just summarize what your body said, but talk about future steps or why your report is important.

Work Report Example

Here’s an example of a shorter report meant to update the recipient on the progress of the candidate search for an open position:

Types of work reports

Work report is a generic term that can apply to any number of documents. Depending on where you work and what you position is, you’ll likely have certain types of reports you’re expected to produce. Here are some of the most common varieties.

• Annual reports

• Weekly reports

• Project reports

• Sales reports

• Marketing reports

• Research reports

• Department reports

• Industry reports

• Progress reports

• Analytical reports

• Product reports

• Operational reports

• Informational report

• Proposal report

• Memos

• Meeting minutes

• Compliance report

Final thoughts

No matter what role, industry, or field you’re in, you’ll have to write a report at some point. Maybe you spearheaded a groundbreaking project, and you want to share your amazing success and learnings with your team, or perhaps you did some important research that would benefit your company to hear.

There are all kinds of situations where writing a report for work is needed, and all kinds of ways you can present your information.

Business reports are crucial to ensuring your valuable knowledge, information, and insights get shared with the right people. It’s not always possible to bring everyone into a room and have you present, but having a written report makes it easier to share your knowledge with everyone.

But just writing a report doesn’t always get your point across. Writing a thorough, clear, and engaging report is key to showing off your success. We’re here to help you write any kind of report you need.

Report format FAQ

1. Why should you follow standard report writing format?

   The reason that you should follow standard report writing format is because then everyone knows how to read and interpret the report. Reports have a standard format to make it easier to read them quickly and get the information you’re looking for.

   It’s also professional to follow the proper format for a report. Exactly how you deliver the report itself can vary — it can be a presentation, or a meeting, or just the paper itself. But whatever the case, you always need a written version for business records.

2. How do you write an effective business report?

   If you want to write a good report for work, you need to focus on the tenets of business writing: brevity, clarity, and professionalism. Business reports should clearly convey the information needed in the least amount of time possible.

   Following the standard business report format will help you with this as it steers you towards efficacy. Putting the report in a standard format also makes it easier of your readers to navigate, so that they can pull out the information they need more quickly.

References

1. Harvard Business Review — the Science of Strong Business Writing

2. University of Nevada, Reno — How to Write a Business Report

Author

Amanda Covaleski

Amanda is a writer with experience in various industries, including travel, real estate, and career advice. After taking on internships and entry-level jobs, she is familiar with the job search process and landing that crucial first job. Included in her experience is work at an employer/intern matching startup where she marketed an intern database to employers and supported college interns looking for work experience.