What is Business Report? Characteristics of Business Report

What is Business Report or, Definition of Business Report, Meaning of Business Report-When a report is written for business purpose, it is called business report. It is a little bit different from other reports. It deals with business related information. A business report is prepared containing business related information that assists the management to take better decisions. Some definitions on business report are given below-

What is Business Report

  • According to Lesikar and Petit, “A business report is an orderly, objective communication of factual information that serves some business purpose.”
  • Boone and Other said, “A business report is a document that organizes information and a specific topic for a specific business purpose.”
  • According to Murphy and Hildebrandt, “A business report is an impartial, objective, planned presentation of a fact to one or more persons for a specific, significant business purpose.”

So, a business report can be defined as an organized, written statement of facts related to specific business matter. It helps the interested persons to get insight into the problem and to overcome the problem.

What is Business Report
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Characteristics of Business Report

Business reports carry information on facts related to business activities. The very nature of business report differentiates it from other reports. The unique characteristics of business report are discussed below-

  • Specific Issue: Every report, including business one, is written on specific subject. It is written to fulfill certain need.
  • Pre-Specified Audience: An important characteristic of report is that it has a pre-specified audience. Usually a report is written for a limited number of audiences and the need of the audience is always kept in mind.
  • Specific Structure or Layout: In preparing report, certain structure or layout or format is followed. The layout or structure of report is almost same in every case.
  • Written on Past Events: In most of the cases, the reports are written on past events. Most of the business reports carry the reasons of happing the incident, the ways of recovery etc. Reports are also written in past forms.
  • Neutral in Nature: In drafting reports, impartiality it strictly maintained. No biased or non-objective material is included in it. Biased report may lead to disastrous decisions.
  • Factual Information: Business report is always written based on factual information. The data collected on specific events is factual, not factious.
  • Joint Effort: A report is an outcome of joint efforts of a group of people. No one can personally or solely prepare a report. Now-a-days, in most of the cases, committee is formed containing three to seven people for furnishing a report on certain incident.
  • Orderly Presentation: The information of a report is presented orderly so that the audience can get his needed information from where it is located.
  • Upward Flow: The direction of a report is always upward in the organizational structure. The higher authority normally assigns the duty of preparing reports to their immediate lower authority and after preparing the report, they submit it to their boss or higher authority.
  • Some Additional Aids in Presentation: A report is always presented in an attractive way. In addition, analytical reports contain executive summary, contents and index, necessary charts, graphs and design and conclusion and recommendation etc.
  • Signature and Date: It is customary to put the signature of the reporter with date at the end of the report. If it is prepared by a committee, signature must be given by each member of the committee.

From the above discussion it is found that business report has some unique characteristics. Its helps the respective business people to take pragmatic decisions in specific business areas.

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