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When is it better to write a report instead of a letter, and how do they differ?
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Quick reference
Communicating With Reports
Sometimes you need to communicate in more detail than a business letter allows. Reports can fill this need.
When to use
Use this guide to decide whether it is better to use a report or a letter to communicate.
Business Letters vs. Business Reports
| Business Letters | Business Reports |
|---|---|
| Direct and concise | Provide extensive detail or support to justify a conclusion |
| One or two pages long | Can be hundreds of pages long |
| Communication in everyday language facilitates diverse audience | Audience should be familiar with reading information in statistical format |
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- 00:05 If you've ever been asked to summarize in writing information that's supported
- 00:09 by factual observable data, then you were being asked to prepare a report.
- 00:15 Sometimes the decision to write a letter or
- 00:17 to present your information in a report will be up to you.
- 00:22 So, when is it better to do a report rather than a letter?
- 00:27 Remember that business letters are expected to be direct and concise.
- 00:32 In business reports, you're expected to provide lots of support or
- 00:36 detail to justify a decision or conclusion.
- 00:40 Business letters are rarely longer than two pages.
- 00:44 But reports maybe a few pages or hundreds of pages long.
- 00:51 Letters may better serve a more diverse audience.
- 00:54 Because once they understand a common language,
- 00:57 then you can easily make yourself understood.
- 00:59 With business reports, your audience will usually need to be familiar with reading
- 01:04 information in a statistical format.
- 01:09 As we discussed in previous lessons, letters can be used to communicate
- 01:13 various types of correspondence, including everyday communication.
- 01:17 They're the standard documents for internal memos and
- 01:21 prospecting new clients.
- 01:23 Interestingly, a business letter often accompanies a business report, but
- 01:28 on the other hand reports are usually used to focus on factual accounts.
- 01:33 They give detailed results of an investigation,
- 01:36 they document trends and can be used to make projections.
- 01:40 Reports may still require a cover letter.
- 01:45 Even though the information reports is often used as the basis
- 01:48 to project future events, or to make business proposals, or decisions,
- 01:53 the emphasis is on the validity and accuracy of the data within the report.
- 01:59 You may have to write reports as part of your job now, or
- 02:02 you might need to do it in the future.
- 02:05 These can range from a few pages representing a specific phenomenon or
- 02:09 event, to a detailed highly researched, comprehensive publication.
- 02:14 Which will be read by hundreds or even thousands of people.
- 02:18 So, here are a few guidelines to bear in mind.
- 02:22 All the rules of spelling, grammar and punctuation still apply.
- 02:27 While letters might serve different purposes,
- 02:30 the main purpose of reports is to inform.
- 02:34 Because of this, reports are formal rather than conversational in tone.
- 02:39 Reports are more structured and they tend to follow a specific style, and
- 02:44 they're also more quantitative and statistical.
- 02:48 The data in a report is easily converted into charts and graphs.
- 02:53 Or maybe the report itself,
- 02:55 is used to point out observations on existing charts and graphs.
- 03:00 So, there are a few best practices that we like to recommend.
- 03:03 If you have a report that you publish at regular intervals,
- 03:07 make the comparisons between reporting periods easy with consistent formatting.
- 03:14 Reports often form a legal record.
- 03:16 So, there isn't any room for opinion within the report itself.
- 03:20 If you do have opinions, you should state them in the cover letter.
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