ABSTRACT
Quite simply, a management report is a way of providing people with the information they need to make decisions. Sometimes these follow problems or crises, on other occasions they are written to change opinion or herald a new way of working. Whatever their origin, they have just the one real purpose to influence decision-making, either by the direct recipient or by later readers. Reports should be simple, clear and as brief as possible. Some reports are many hundreds of pages long, others may be two pages or less. Ultimately the length will depend on the topic, depth of analysis required, conventions of the organisation concerned, and likely readership of the final document. Cursive handwriting may work in the family Christmas letter but looks unprofessional in a report and can be hard to read. Left-justified 10- or 12-point Arial, Helvetica or Times fonts provide easily readable text.
