This is called a Transmittal Memo because it transmits the Report to the intended recipient in a professional manner. It follows standard Memo format. If you were sending this to someone outside the organization, you’d use a Transmittal Letter. The purpose of both is the same.
DATE: Month day, year
SUBJECT: Exact Title of the Report
Here is the report you assigned in partial fulfillment of the requirements for BUS 305. (Note: This line is in this font to distinguish actual samples of the text from my explanations, which follow; you should keep your font use consistent throughout the report).
You may then add a paragraph telling me about the report and what I can expect to find in it. It is not necessary to summarize the report here, however, because you will do that in the Executive Summary.
You may then wish to add a paragraph telling me about your experiences (successes and frustrations) or other significant discoveries in the process of preparing the report. As always, end with some goodwill.
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CONTENTS
PAGE
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY iv
CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION 1
Background 1 Statement of Purpose 2 Scope 2 Limitations 3 Methods of Research 3
CHAPTER 2 - FINDINGS 4
Economic Conditions 5 Recent Events Affecting California Business 9 Emerging Opportunities 9
CHAPTER 3 - CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 11
Conclusions 11 Recommendations 11
WORKS CITED 12
Note: Your headings under “Chapter 2 – Findings” above should be the same as those that appear in that Chapter. This is the only portion that is customized to your topic area, since everything else will be the same for everyone (of course, the page numbers will change depending on your content).
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Note: This is single-spaced.
The Executive Summary is a summary of the body of the report, including the conclusions and recommendations. It may also be called the Abstract or the Synopsis.
The purpose of the Executive Summary is to enable the reader to determine what the report says very quickly. The reader will use the Executive Summary to decide whether or not to read the entire report. Some readers may decide the report does not cover information desired. Other readers may decide that the information in the Executive Summary is sufficient for their purposes. Still other readers may want to read the entire report.
A rough "rule of thumb"---and it’s very rough--- for determining the length of the Executive Summary is one page of summary for each ten pages in the report. Another "rule of thumb" for writing a complete Executive Summary is useful if you have constructed the paragraphs in the report in the traditional method for expository writing. In such paragraphs, the first sentence is the "topic" sentence. Theoretically, you should then be able to simply "string" your topic sentences from each paragraph to create a complete summary. Although creating an Executive Summary is unlikely to be this simple, such a technique can prove to be a good starting point and guide.
The Executive Summary does not have to follow the same outline as the report itself. In addition, it may have entirely different subheadings, if you use those at all. Regardless of how you approach the writing of the Executive Summary, it is always best to write it after the body of the report is completely written and edited, so that it gives an accurate and coherent summary of the entire report.
Remember, the Executive Summary should be a complete summary of the major points that follow in the report, including your conclusions and recommendations. If the material doesn’t appear in what follows, it shouldn’t appear here.
