A report is a description of an event, an experience, a statement about situations or actions. A report is meant to give a reliable and accurate piece of information about its subject and/or the event it covers. Little(1965: 158) defines report as ‘ a document providing an account of something witnessed, examined, or of work carried out, or of an investigation together with conclusions arrived at as a result of the investigation.’
TYPES OF REPORTS
There are different types of reports which could be determined using different criteria or indices. Presented below are some common criteria for report classification:
Classification according to use: Use or purpose is a major criterion for grouping reports. A report which an entrepreneur demands from his manager to determine the performance of a given plant over a period of time may ba called a progress report. In this class are also financial or audit reports. The annual reports by company directors to shareholders also belong to this class of reports. Reports in this class provide indices for monitoring growth sequence.
Classification according to frequency: The nature of certain establishments or institutions makes the submission of periodic or regular reports mandatory as normal office routines. Reports of this nature are usually stereotyped because they follow a fixed format. School headmasters, medical officers in health institutions, heads of government parastatals, etc usually send returns to their supervising officers at regular intervals. Routine reports such as these do not use language extensively because they are often precise. Details in such reports are provided according to some pre-conceived headings and sub-headings on the proforma for the returns and such proformas are provided by the supervising departments.
Next lecture will discuss other types of report and the features of a good report
HAVE A FRUITFUL WEEK!
