How To Use The Business Report Template: (Version 1.0)

SHORT TITLE OF THE ASSIGNMENT
For Business Administration and Related Streams
How To Use The Business Report

Template
(version 1.0)
Formal business reports are prepared in a different format than essays or other
academic assignments. Preparing professional reports, and proposals, will help
you communicate your ideas to your employers while also adding to your value
as an employee. This is an important skill to develop and practice while here at
Centennial.
Business writing should involve three key steps:
Planning
Writing
Completing
Planning:
- Analyzing the situation or topic. Defining the purpose, the business
problem or opportunity that a report may address. Formulating a main
message for your report - often this involves proposing a solution or response
to the purpose. Developing an audience profile.
- Gathering information. In other words, primary and secondary research, as
required.
- Organizing the information: Creating an outline or structure for the key
points that need to be expressed.
Writing:
- Adapting to the audience. Developing a tone or style that is sensitive to
audience needs while projecting and protecting your organizations image
and/or brand.
- Composing the message: Follow the outline prepared earlier, using
carefully constructed paragraphs and sentences. Identify or create any visual
or graphic representations of data that you want to use.
Completing:
- Revising: Proofread and edit for spelling, grammar and typographical errors.
Re-write for conciseness and clarity.
To assist you with the formatting of such documents, we have prepared a
template that you can use to guide you through the report preparation process.
Download the template.

Save one master copy to use again in the future.
Save a new copy with a new file name that reflects your report or
assignment.

Instructions are given and highlighted in yellow. Read all instructions and
delete them when you no longer need them.
Replace all other elements (titles, headings, sample text, etc.) with YOUR
content, as instructed.
When you finish using the template, the final document should contain your
own original work, formatted as a standard business report. All instructions
or examples given in this template should be either deleted or replaced with
your own content.

Instructions for the cover page:
The next page is a cover page and contains the report title (mandatory), a subtitle
(optional) and information on the author, the intended audience (in this case, a
professor), and the date it was prepared.
Every business report should have a title that reflects its content or main
message. The title should be in the same font as the body of your work, but at
least twice as large as your regular text. It should be centred, bold, underlined and
should appear about one third to halfway down the page from the top. Depending
on the nature and content of the report, you may decide that a subtitle is
appropriate. For example, a report about recycling in Toronto might look like this:
Recycling In Toronto
Saving The City One Plastic Bottle At A Time
Titles do not require punctuation, although you can use a colon at the end of the
title if you decide to use a subtitle. This is optional.
Guidelines regarding fonts and font sizes:
Use either a simple sans serif font (Ariel, Calabri, Tahoma) or Times New Roman (a
simple serif font). Regardless of which font you select, use the same font for the
entire document. Do not use italics at any point in your report. Use the following
font sizes and configurations:
Cover Page Title: 22 point, bold, underlined, centered
Cover Page SubTitle: 16 point, centered
Headings: 16 point ,bold, underlined, centered
Subheadings: 13 point, bold, underlined left-justified
Body text: 11 point
DELETE THE ABOVE BEFORE YOU HAND IN YOUR

WORK!
The Title Of Your Report

The Subtitle of Your Report
Your Name
Your Student Number
Professors Name
Course Name
Course Code
Date Submitted
Executive Summary
Instructions:
The heading Executive Summary is standard and should remain unchanged on
this page.
An Executive Summary is the last item that an author prepares when writing a
business report. It should contain NO MORE than three paragraphs, each with three
or four sentences. The Executive Summary should never exceed one page.
Paragraph One: Introduce the topic of the report.
Paragraph Two: Discuss the main problem(s) that the report examines.
Paragraph Three: Review, briefly, any conclusions or recommendations that the
report offers.
A reader should get a reasonable representation of the overall content from reading
these three paragraphs.
Table of Contents
These page numbers are provided as samples. Use the real page numbers for your
report. Put actual headings and subheadings as per your actual report.
Introduction
First Topic
Heading
1
1
Subheading
Subheading
Subheading
1
1
2
2
Subheading
Subheading
Subheading
2
3
3
3
Subheading
Subheading
Subheading
3
4
4
4
Second Topic
Heading
Third Topic
Heading
Recommendation
s
Conclusion
References
Appendices
Appendix
Appendix
Appendix
Appendix
One Title
Two Title
Three Title
Four Title
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Instructions:
The Table of Contents shows the reader where to find specific content areas. If you
have prepared a strong outline prior to writing your report (highly recommended),
the headings, subheadings and other information should be easily available and
clearly organized. This example shows three headings and two subheadings for
each, however this is just for the purposes of this example. There is no set amount
for these elements. Use as many of each as you feel are appropriate to construct a
complete report.
Insert the accurate page number for each corresponding element. It is often best to
construct this table of contents after all content is prepared and edited. This will
allow for fewer revisions to the table of contents.
The appendices show any data tables, charts, graphs, or visuals that you refer to
within the body of the report. Such visual material should appear at the end in an
appendix rather than taking up page space within the body of the report.
6

A note about page numbers: The first page of the report is the page that
follows this table of contents and should contain a few introductory paragraphs
to the topic, followed by the first major topic heading. However, the first page
NUMBER should appear on page two. It is standard to leave the page
number out on page one.
Introduction: About This Topic

Sample text for introduction Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing
elit. Vestibulum magna quam, auctor at congue nec, venenatis a felis. Nunc ornare,
velit ac tincidunt volutpat, sapien velit consequat nulla, id dignissim est eros et
risus. Vivamus consequat arcu tristique risus ornare a fringilla nisl consequat.
Quisque at tristique eros. Duis sit amet eros sed nunc consequat mattis eu vitae
quam. Nullam facilisis iaculis tortor id pulvinar. In pellentesque nisl quis risus
eleifend placerat. Nam ac malesuada magna. Praesent tristique sem ac ipsum
suscipit a ornare quam ultrices. Suspendisse at arcu nisl. Ut vel odio massa. Aenean
eget ipsum eros, quis pellentesque neque. Etiam consequat vulputate purus, et
posuere urna lacinia non. Proin tortor nisl, lacinia a faucibus condimentum, dictum
eu mauris. Morbi velit ipsum, eleifend suscipit rhoncus in, elementum eget urna.
Vivamus sed felis et est commodo aliquet. Praesent quis urna ante. In sed dui odio,
adipiscing mollis augue. In bibendum nibh ut ipsum lacinia ut luctus lacus vulputate.
Quisque eget metus neque. Mauris commodo massa eu elit sodales ut scelerisque
justo vestibulum. Phasellus semper ipsum sit amet dolor facilisis a fringilla tellus
tincidunt. Etiam at magna lorem, ut rutrum elit. Suspendisse egestas consequat
eros, et interdum felis placerat ut. Aenean ut lacus lectus, vitae dictum lacus.
Praesent ac nisl diam, id vestibulum lacus. Nullam consectetur, leo nec imperdiet
pellentesque, nisl risus venenatis nulla, quis tempus metus dolor dignissim sem.
Aenean vitae scelerisque tortor. Morbi sem odio, sollicitudin sed porttitor at,
ullamcorper sit amet diam. Pellentesque turpis nunc, viverra vel malesuada in,
iaculis in magna.
Instructions:
In the introduction, write two or three paragraphs introducing the topic of the report
and, in particular, explaining why it is important. Do not use subheadings here.
Change the heading above to reflect your actual topic.
A good choice for line spacing is 1.15, as shown here. 1.5 is also acceptable.
Double-spacing is not appropriate for business reports.
First Topic Heading

Subheading
7

Sample text Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vestibulum
magna quam, auctor at congue nec, venenatis a felis. Nunc ornare, velit ac
tincidunt volutpat, sapien velit consequat nulla, id dignissim est eros et risus.
Vivamus consequat arcu tristique risus ornare a fringilla nisl consequat. Quisque at
tristique eros. Duis sit amet eros sed nunc consequat mattis eu vitae quam. Nullam
facilisis iaculis tortor id pulvinar. In pellentesque nisl quis risus eleifend placerat.
Nam ac malesuada magna. Praesent tristique sem ac ipsum suscipit a ornare quam
ultrices. Suspendisse at arcu nisl. Ut vel odio massa. Aenean eget ipsum eros, quis
pellentesque neque. Etiam consequat vulputate purus, et posuere urna lacinia non.
Proin tortor nisl, lacinia a faucibus condimentum, dictum eu mauris. Morbi velit
ipsum, eleifend suscipit rhoncus in, elementum eget urna.
Subheading
8

iaculis in magna. (Argenti 2006)
Instructions:
The major difference between a business report and an essay is that a business
report clearly divides its content into logically flowing topic areas, divided by
headings and subheadings. These should ALWAYS correspond to a properly prepared
outline something that makes your task much easier. Use as many headings /
subheadings as make sense for your report. There is no standard regarding the
number of paragraphs or sentences per paragraph, although most paragraphs
contain at minimum three sentences. Use as many or as few as make sense for
what you have to say about your topic.
Please note: A heading or subheading should NEVER appear in the last 15% (i.e. at
the bottom) of any page. In such a case, leave white space and start the next
section at the top of the next page.
In-Text Citations: For all ideas, quotations or content, use standard APA in-text
citation format of the authors name followed year of publication. (Argenti 2006)
The reader should then be able to refer to your reference page to find where you
sourced your specific material.
Second Topic Heading

Subheading
ipsum, eleifend suscipit rhoncus in, elementum eget urna. (Hoovers 2007)
9

iaculis in magna.
Subheading
iaculis in magna.
Third Topic Heading

Subheading
10

iaculis in magna. (Hamilton interview 2007)
Subheading
(Hoovers 2007)
iaculis in magna. (Argenti 2006)
Recommendations
First Recommendation
11

ultrices.
Second Recommendation
iaculis in magna.
Third Recommendation
Vivamus ultrices eros eget sem aliquam quis tincidunt ligula gravida. Nam id risus
augue. Vivamus fringilla tincidunt imperdiet. Maecenas sit amet tellus facilisis urna
lacinia tempor. Curabitur nec urna risus, at feugiat lectus. Vivamus erat elit, lacinia
a aliquet non, tincidunt non libero. Nulla magna lorem, hendrerit sit amet sodales
dignissim, laoreet vitae tellus. Fusce vitae erat justo. Aenean nec tellus lacus. Sed
eget ornare mi. In lacinia dolor et arcu ultricies sed ultricies nulla viverra. Proin
suscipit laoreet lorem, eu luctus urna placerat a. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in
faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Vestibulum eu lorem mi, et
cursus nunc
In Conclusion
12

iaculis in magna.
Instructions:
Most business reports are written with the purpose of presenting findings and
offering recommendations. When preparing the conclusion, you may wish to review
the main points from the introduction (for example, re-stating whatever business
problem you were examining) and suggesting what positive results might follow
should your recommendations be followed.
13
References
Argenti, P. A., & Foreman, J. (2006). The Power of Corporate Communication:
Crafting the Voice and Image of Your Business. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Hoovers Online. (2007) Intel-Company Capsule. Retrieved September 6, 2007 from
www.hoovers.com/intel-corporation/--ID_13787--/free-co-factsheet.xhtml.
Porter, M.E. & Kramer, M.R. (2002, December). The competitive advantage of
corporate philanthropy. Harvard Business Review, 80(12), 56-68.
Instructions APA Citation Style:
The American Psychological Association (APA) style is one of three standard formats
used to cite works that have been used as research for reports and essays. ALL nonoriginal ideas and content within a document MUST be cited or you may be
plagiarizing in other words, you may be presenting work that appears to be yours,
but in fact is not. Your professor has the option to give a grade of zero for either the
work, or the course, should a student be found plagiarizing.
The best way to avoid this is to use APA to cite EVERYTHING. Keep track of every
article you read, every book, journal or website you use. Personal interviews with
experts are great sources of information and must be cited in the text as well
however do not need to be included in the reference page.
APA has the following attributes:
Citations are formatted as hanging indents and appear alphabetically by
author last name.
Citations contain the following information (when available), IN THIS ORDER:
1. Author last name followed by initials
2. Year of publication (in parentheses)
3. Title information
4. Publication information
5. Date retrieved or accessed (for online journals and web sites)
6. Page range (for periodicals only)
7. URL (for online journals and websites)
The examples above offer three different types of citations for the reference page.
There are dozens more that cover all possible situations. Examples can be found
online if you search for APA examples, or you can refer to any reputable
communications textbook for guidance.
14
Appendix One Title
Chart Title
-
List the source and the date here
Instructions:
Put all visual materials into appendices that appear at the end of your report. Each
page should contain only ONE visual. Change the title of the appendix here to
reflect your work. MAKE SURE you properly label the data, and that you use an
explanatory chart title. The source for the visual should always be listed, as well as
a date. This is particularly important if you are using data that might be questioned
or may be obsolete.
15
Appendix Two Title
Chart Title
-
16
Appendix Three Title
Picture Title
-
17

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SHORT TITLE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

For Business Administration and Related Streams