RSM336 - Investments

Brief Introduction to Business Reports

1.0 Rationale
While the strength of analysis in a business report is important, do not underestimate the significance of
style. In the real world, your clients and your supervisors are busy. Regardless of the value of the
information you are communicating, a disorganized or unprofessional report will quickly lose their
interest. In school, this means a lower grade. In the real world, this means losing value for your
organization.

2.0 Key Points

2.1 Sources and References
Use sources to support any claim that is not common knowledge. This includes industry data, trends,
figures, and any other information that the reader may want to confirm. Proper sources add credibility and
strength to your arguments.
2.1.1 Selection of Sources
- Legitimacy – only use relevant reputable sources. This means legitimate business publications,
professional analyst reports, or data from government, NGO, or industry organizations. Blogs, forums
or unverified data are not reputable sources. See here for an extensive list of Rotman-verified
resources.1
o For RSM336 – Note that some legitimate sources are more reputable than others: Wall Street
Journal, Financial Times, Report on Business, Financial Post, Bloomberg, and Reuters are
well-regarded business news sources.
- Usage – if you cite a source in the footnotes or in the works cited (references) list at the end of the
report, make sure that you actually use it, and refer to it, in your report.
o For RSM336 – Do not use class slides as a source! You are expected to do independent
research.
2.1.2 Formatting of sources
- Footnotes – use regular superscript numbers to indicate footnotes. Ensure the footnotes at the bottom
of the page are legible and contain enough information so that the reader can identify the source.
- Works cited / references – make sure that the works cited list is ordered alphabetically and contains
only sources that you actually used.
- In-text citations are just as important as the works cited / references list. These citations should appear
immediately after the sentence or phrase that you want to attribute to the source (e.g. Smith 2019).
o In APA, footnotes are not used for general citations / references. You should use a footnote
when you want to add a supplementary content point that supports your argument, point the
reader to additional sources (e.g. “See Johns (2017) for discussion of…”) or for a copyright
note indicating permission to reproduce a table or figure, etc.
- APA is a commonly used citation style in business reports and is required for your project report.
More information on formatting sources in APA can be found here.

1
Rotman’s Milt Harris Library (formerly BIC) provides an extensive list of sources for statistics, country reports, market trends, newspapers, company
information, and much more. This can be found here http://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/FacultyAndResearch/BIC/Research/Online-Links

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2.2 Style
2.2.1 Organize Yourself
- Headings and section numbers – headings allow readers to quickly skim and orient themselves within
your report. They are also helpful for organizing your own thoughts. Section numbers are helpful as
references and they force you to think about the logical flow of the content. Finally, don’t forget to
include page numbers.
2.2.2 De-clutter
- Sentence length and structure—business writing is meant to be crisp and concise. It is much more
difficult to express a thought in a few words than in a few sentences. Once you finish writing the
report, try to proofread and cut out 10% of your words. Here are some helpful tips from the Business
Development Bank of Canada.2 3
- Font, spacing, and margins—never attempt to play around with fonts, spacing or margins to
accommodate extra words. This makes your report look overwhelming and may prevent you from
being concise. Use 12-point font (Times New Roman), double-spacing, and 1-inch margins.
- Maximum number of pages: follow the instructions—page limits are not a suggestion. Always clarify
with the instructor whether the limit includes elements such as title page, table of contents, executive
summary, and appendices.
- Graphs, tables and charts—use these to help you convey a point, show a trend or provide data relevant
to your discussion. Make sure the visual is legible, clear, labeled, uses minimal wording, and is placed
in a logical place on the page.
2.3 Grammar and Spelling
- The importance of grammar and spelling cannot be overemphasized. Some simple tips include spell
checking (there is a feature in Word that does this for you) and proofreading several times. It might be
useful to ask a friend in the program to read the paper as well (or have all group members proofread).
Finally, if you need some specific advice regarding writing, do not hesitate to use one of the many
writing centers on campus. You can find them here. Writing Centre instructors will be able to help
you with a wide variety of written genres, including business reports.
2.4 Organization of Report
2.4.1 Table of Contents
- The table of contents should be neatly organized and should capture: (i) all of the main headings in
your paper; and (ii) corresponding page numbers. If you use the Heading styles in Word, it will
generate an automatic table of contents.
2.4.2 Executive Summary
- The executive summary is where your will win or lose your reader. Keep it short and simple—only
discuss the general points and conclusions of your report without providing unnecessary detail. Make
sure that all the key points from your report are summarized. Before including anything, ask yourself—
does my reader absolutely need to know this detail to understand the general point I am trying to make?
2.4.3 Appendices
- Appendices are appropriate for additional information that does not belong in the report. Include
information that supports arguments or statements made in the body of the report. While most of the

2
10 tips for effective business writing. (n.d.). Retrieved October 23, 2019, from https://www.bdc.ca/en/articles-tools/entrepreneurial-skills/become-better-
communicator/pages/10-tips-effective-business-writing.aspx.
3
The Business Development Bank of Canada is a federal entity devoted to providing funding to Canadian entrepreneurs. They receive hundreds of proposals
and reports daily and have published this list as a suggestion to business writers.

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supporting information goes into the appendices, if certain data is crucial to your argument, you can
consider placing it in the body. If you do so, ensure the data is relevant and neatly fits into the body.
- Each appendix must be properly referenced—only include appendices with information that you
actually used in the report, and don’t include appendices you do not reference in the body of the
report.
- Ensure that appendices are neatly organized into graphs and tables—these will often include figures,
so they must be easy to follow.
- For tables of data, do not use screen shots. If you wish to include a table, you must download the
data or transcribe it into a table.