How to Write a Business Report: Structure, Analysis and Recommendations

14 August 2026 · 7 min read

Business report assignments simulate a document written for a manager, and marks follow that simulation. An essay-style flow of prose loses marks even when the content is good, because the format itself is part of what is being assessed: headings, numbered sections, figures and a summary that stands alone.

The standard structure

Title page and, for longer reports, a contents page.
Executive summary — the whole report in one page, written last.
Introduction or terms of reference — purpose, scope and what falls outside it.
Methodology — where the information came from, if the brief calls for it.
Findings — evidence, organised under numbered headings with tables and figures.
Analysis and discussion — what the findings mean.
Conclusions, then recommendations, then references and appendices.

The executive summary is not an introduction

An introduction says what the report will do. An executive summary says what the report found and what it recommends. It should include your key figures and your main recommendation, and it should make sense to someone who reads nothing else. Write it once the report is finished, and keep it to a page.

Findings and analysis are different sections

Findings present evidence: the sales figures, the survey results, the competitor positions. Analysis explains what that evidence means for the organisation. Students routinely merge the two and end up with description throughout and interpretation nowhere. Keeping them apart forces the analysis to exist.

Use frameworks to reach a conclusion

SWOT — only if the quadrants feed into a decision.
PESTEL — for external environment questions.
Porter's Five Forces — for industry attractiveness and competitive pressure.
The marketing mix or value chain — for internal operational questions.
Financial ratios and trend analysis — often the most persuasive evidence available.

A framework applied and then abandoned earns little. After each one, state the implication in a sentence: what this tells us about the decision at hand.

Recommendations must be actionable

Each recommendation should name the action, the owner, the timeframe, the approximate resource requirement and the measure of success. Prioritise them — short term and long term, or by impact and feasibility — and note the main risk of each. "Increase brand awareness" is a wish; "Run a three-month paid social campaign targeting 18–24s in the North West at a budget of £15,000, measured by assisted conversions" is a recommendation.

Presentation counts

Number your sections and sub-sections. Give every table and figure a number, a caption and a source. Keep paragraphs short, use business English rather than conversational prose, and put raw data, full survey instruments and long calculations in appendices — referenced from the body, never dumped at the end unmentioned.

Assignment Byte can review your business report for structure, analytical depth and the practicality of your recommendations.