WRITTEN

BUSINESS REPORTS
CHAPTER 6
CLASSIFICATION OF REPORTS
- business reports are written daily by businessmen and other people engaged in
business transactions.
Their classification:
BASIS KIND MEANING AND EXAMPLES
Subject matter Business reports are classified into marketing, economic, financial, accounting,
management, etc.
Frequency Regular/periodic It is issued on a regular or periodic basis(daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly,
semiannually), e.g., sales reported and merchandise inventory report.
special It is issued occasionally, e.g., calamity report and building examination report.
Function Informative It serves inform, e.g., business information report and health advisory report.
Persuasive It serves to persuade or to let the reader take an action, e.g., proposal report and
recommendation report.
Authorship External /outside It is written by an author not belonging to the same organization, e.g., external audit
report and sanitation examination report.
Internal/inside It is written by an author belonging to the same organization, e.g., college
accomplishment report and internal audit report.
Public It is written by a public official or government personnel, e.g., COA audit report and
department of education memorandum report.
 BASIS KIND MEANING AND EXAMPLE
Private Its is written by an individual in the private sector, e.g., doctor’s physical examination report and
merchandise inventory report.
Readership Individual-reader It is addressed to an individual, e.g., bank statement and transcript of record.
Group-reader It is addressed to a group of individuals, e.g., company’s annual report and stockholders’ equity
report.
Length Long It is more than five pages, e.g., theses and dissertations.
Short It has five pages or less, e.g., laboratory report and form report.
Format Printed/form It is written on ready-made printed form, e.g., cash flow report and bank reconciliation report.
Letter-form It is written in the form of a letter, e.g., proposal report and recommendation report.
Book-form It is written in the form of a book, e.g., thesis and information booklet.
Purpose Information It imparts information on a periodic or special basis, e.g., annual report and monthly expense
report.
Examination It states the results of an examination, e.g., engineering, marketing, financial, and administrative
examinations reports.
Research It gives the findings an investigation, e.g., business investigative report and experimental
research report.
Recommendation It suggests an action to be undertaken, e.g., operation and construction recommendation reports
formality Informal It does not contain all the parts of a conventional full-dress report, e.g., letter report and one-page
report.
 BASIS KIND MEANING AND EXAMPLES
Formal It contains the parts of a conventional full-dress report, e.g., thesis and research paper

FORMAL AND INFORMAL REPORTS

- reports are either formal or informal.
- formal reports are conventional full-dress reports.
PART MEANING
Title page It bears the title of the report, the writer’s name, and the date of the report transmission. The title maybe
presented in any of the following styles: one-line, parallel-line (lines of the same length), pyramid (lines
increasing in length), and inverted pyramid (lines decreasing in length).
Dedication page It is an offering of the report to an individual or a group of individuals.
acknowledgment It contains words of thanks to those who have helped in the completion of the report.
Preface It states the purpose and the scope of the report.
Foreword It contains word of person other than the writer about the report.
Abstract It is a condensed version of the report; it is either descriptive (short) or informational (long)

Table of contents It is a chronological list of the items contained in the report with corresponding pages.

List of figures It is a chronological lists of tables, charts, maps, and other graphic aids, with corresponding pages.
 PART MEANING
Body / report It contains the introduction, discussion proper (presentation of data), and conclusion and recommendation of the
Proper report.
Appendix It is a supplementary material added at the end of the report.
Glossary It is an alphabetical list of business terms and their corresponding meanings.
Bibliography It is an alphabetical list of reference materials(books, magazines, newspapers, journals, online sources, etc.)
used in the report.
Index It is an alphabetical list of topics discussed in the report with corresponding pages.

PROGRESS REPORT
- Is one of the most commonly used business reports. It
presents the development or progress of an undertaking
within a given period of time.
1. INTRODUCTION
- Contains the purpose(reason for writing), background, and scope of
the report. EXAMPLE OF
INTRODUCTION
2. STATUS
- contains the description of the tasks completed and remaining, the
things that have been accomplished and still need to be
accomplished, the length of time to accomplish those things, the
difficulties encountered, and the risks foreseen.
EXAMPLES OF STATUS
3. CONCLUSION
- contains the summary (an appraisal of the current status), an
evaluation or assessment of the progress made to date, a forecast of
completing the project, and a contact for more information

EXAMPLE OF CONCLUSION
PROPOSAL REPORT
- is defined by mills and Walter (1980) as a “written offer to solve a
technical problem in a particular way, under a specified plan of
management for a certain sum of money.
A BUSINESS PROPOSAL REPORT IS DIVIDED INTO THE
FOLLOWING PARTS:
1. executive summary
- summarizes the contents of the proposal; it is described as such because
it is usually written by the top executive of the company, e.., the president
or vice-president.
2. technical volume or management proposal
- gives a detailed explanation of the solution to the technical problem; it
is usually written by the company’s personnel holding managerial
positions or possessing management knowledge and expertise.
3. management volume or management proposal
- states a description of the organizational structure and the persons in
charge of implementing the proposed solution; it is usually written by the
company’s personnel holding managerial positions or possessing
management knowledge and expertise.
4. Cost volume or cost proposal
- provides in detail the data pertaining to the cost of implementing the
proceed solution; it is usually written by the company’s personnel
handling it’s finances, e.g., accountants and auditors.
5. resources volume
- describes in detail the human and the physical resources needed in
implementing the proposed solution; it is usually written by the personnel
belonging to the human resources department (HRD).
RECOMMENDATION REPORT
- serves to suggest or recommend a course of action to be undertaken
by the addressee or recipient of the report.
It has four section:
1. introduction
- contains the statement of purpose, explanation the method of
gathering information (observing, testing, interviewing, and reading),
statement of scope (criteria used in judging the data), and explanation
of the problem.
2. Conclusion section
- contains the summary of the most important information about all
criteria covered in the report.
3. recommendation/rationale
- contains the resolution to the problem highlighted in the report.
4. discussion section
- contains a discussion of the alternatives organized by criteria, from
the most important to the least important.
FEASIBILITY STUDY
- is a study undertaken to determine the viability (feasibility) of a
business undertaking.
- is a good basis for decision-making.
FEASIBILITY composed of the following parts:
1. introduction
- contains the abstract of the five studies that comprise it.
2. market study
- involves the market (buyers/customers), products and services,
competition, demand and supply
3. Technical study
- involves the plant site, plan layout, manufacturing process, raw
materials and equipment, allowance for expansion, production schedule,
etc.;
4. Management study
- involves the form of organization, organizational structure, personnel
qualifications and hiring procedures, salaries and employee benefits,
company’s policies and standard operating procedures, etc.;
5. Financial study
- involves capitalization, assets and liabilities, owner’s equity, income
and expenses, schedule of financial activities, cash flows, rate of return,
five year projections, etc.;
6. Socio-economic study
- involves the benefits that the company contributes to Philippine
society and economy; and
7. Conclusion
- contains the writer’s final statement on the feasibility of intended
project and explanations.
NEWS BULLETIN
- is a short narrative about an important organizational event which has
recently transpired and which merits the attention of the members of the
organization.
- much similar to a news report in a daily, it follows the inverted pyramid
manner of the W’s (WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN AND WHY) and I
H(HOW) stated first.
POINT OF NEWS EDITORIAL FEATURES
CONTRAST
1. Definition Report of an event Interpretation of an An essay based on facts
event/issue
2. Purpose To inform To interpret To entertain using present human interest stories
3. Timeliness Timely Timely Timely
4. Length Short Around 300 words Depends upon the needs

5. Use of words Simple, precise, Simple, forceful, direct May be descriptive, flowery, colorful
concrete
POINT OF CONTRAST NEWS EDITORIAL FEATURES
6. Use of sentences Short, simple, 15-25 words May be longer May be longer
7. Paragraph No topic sentence, one idea, With topic sentence, longer With topic sentence, longer
one paragraph
8. Use of literary devices Journalistic, direct to the point, Journalistic, direct to the Literary, can be Journalistic, direct
no idioms, figures of speech point, may use idioms, to the point, idioms, figures of
figures of speech speech used freely

9. Use of Use of adjectives sparingly; Adjective used freely; As much as desired

adjectives/opinions opinion, never primarily opinion
10. Parts Lead, body Introduction; (newspaper, Introduction, body, ending
reaction, body, conclusion)

11. Style Follows style sheet, newspaper Follows style-sheet, Composition style or newspaper
style newspaper style style

12. Structure Inverted pyramid Hypothesis, Suspended interest or pyramid

arguments/stand on issue, structure
conclusion
EDITORIAL
- is an article contained in a periodical (newspaper,
magazine, or journal), which represents the point of
view of the publisher regarding a certain issue or
controversial matter.
THANK YOU
AND
GOD BLESS