Managament accounting

The short informal report

The short informal report is used for less complex and lower-level information. You, as assistant management accountant (or similar), could be asked to prepare such a report for the Management Accounts Manager.

To: (the name and title of the person to whom the report is addressed) From: (the name and title of the report writer) Date: Reference: (if necessary) Subject: (brief description of the reason for or content of the report)

1. Background or Situation or Introduction (This sets the context of the report. Include anything that will help the reader to understand the rest of the report: the reason why it was requested, the current situation, and any other background information on people and things that will be mentioned in the following detailed section. This section may also contain the equivalent of 'terms of reference' and 'procedure' ('method').

2. Findings or Analysis of the situation (Here is set out the detailed information gathered, narrative of events or other substance of the report as required by the user. This section may or may not require subheadings: concise prose paragraphs may be sufficient.)

3. Action or Solution or Conclusion (The main thrust of the findings may be summarized in this section and conclusions drawn, together with a note of the outcome of events, or action required, or recommendations as to how a problem might be solved.)