How to Write a Band 6 Business Report

A step-by-step guide to the HSC Business Studies report: the structure, the executive summary, a body paragraph recipe and a fully worked example.

Written by Chris from Rubix Learning

How to write a business report

A business report is a formal, structured answer to a set stimulus. Think of the report as advice a paid consultant gives to a company's owners. Everything you write should be usable by them: no generic textbook dumping, no vague "it depends."

Below is the exam question we'll use throughout.

Question 25 (20 marks)

Professional IT Ltd (PI) is a new IT company which has experienced rapid growth over the last two years. It manufactures and sells technologically advanced mobile phone devices at premium prices, specifically targeting the business segment. Its recent success is a result of its major rival, Apple, losing business customers, which has enabled PI's market share in Australia to increase by 5%. The company's directors are considering:

Importing a number of its transformed inputs from overseas.
Expanding its sales into New Zealand and the USA.
How to best manage cash flow during the projected expansion.

You have been employed as a consultant to prepare a report for management. In your report:

Describe ONE method of international payment suitable for PI to decrease its exportation risks.
Explain how the business could best manage its supply chain.
Evaluate ONE cash flow management strategy PI could use to manage its cash flow issues.

1. The overall structure

Every business report follows the same skeleton. There is one body section per question in the task, so a three-part task gives you three sections.

Part	What goes in it
Title	[Company Name] Business Report, e.g. "Professional IT Ltd Business Report"
Executive Summary	Introduce the business, its current position, and give the answer to all three questions up front.
Section 1	Answers Question 1 (here: international payment / exportation risk).
Section 2	Answers Question 2 (here: managing the supply chain).
Section 3	Answers Question 3 (here: cash flow management).
Conclusion	Restate the three strategies and the problems they solve, as a set of steps to implement.

2. The executive summary

This is the most important paragraph. A busy executive should be able to read only this and walk away knowing your three recommendations. Cover three things, in order:

Introduce the business: product, market, and what it does, summarised from the stimulus.
State the current position: recent strengths and the problems it now faces.
Answer all three questions: name each strategy AND the problem it solves. Actually give the answer, don't just say a topic "will be discussed."

3. The body paragraph recipe

Each section answers one question and follows the same order. Work down the list:

Define the problem (again): define the issue using the textbook definition.
Why it matters to THIS business: be specific to PI, not generic. Link it to their expansion, market or product.
Introduce and define your solution: name the strategy, define it, and trace its location on the syllabus up to the topic name.
How to implement it: concrete steps for PI specifically.
Advantage: the positive, linked back to the business problem it solves.
Disadvantage: the honest shortcoming or side-effect.
Reassurance (the advantage of the disadvantage): show the advantages outweigh the drawback (the "A-D-R" method).
Link back / conclude: one sentence tying the strategy back to the problem solved.

4. Worked example: a full "evaluate" paragraph

Here is a complete model answer for the cash flow question, broken into the jobs each part does. Read it as one flowing paragraph; the labels just show what each part is doing. This is exactly how you should be able to dissect your own writing.

Distribution of payments

Define the problem

Cash flow is the inflows and outflows of money within a business, and PI is currently concerned about their cash flow in the face of a proposed expansion.

→ Defines the concept and names the problem straight away.

Why it matters to PI

Maintaining a positive cash flow is critical for PI to ensure they are able to cover all expenses, including staff and inventory, whilst also having the funds to continue their expansion efforts.

→ Tied specifically to PI's expansion, not a generic statement about cash flow.

Introduce and define the solution

Cash flow management strategies can be implemented within PI to improve their cash flow. As PI wants to engage in an expansion, PI must implement the cash flow management strategy of distribution of payments to control their cash flow. Distribution of payments involves splitting major payments into incremental payments across shorter periods, whilst also moving around the due dates of outflows and incoming cash.

→ Names the strategy, traces it up to the syllabus topic (cash flow management strategies), then defines it.

How to implement it

PI needs to accurately time the payments made to their input suppliers and the payments collected from customers. For every batch of production and sales, PI should first receive the payments from their outbound mobile-phone sales, and then make payments for the inputs used in that manufacturing to their suppliers. This ensures PI has sufficient cash inflow first, and therefore sufficient liquidity to fulfil the cash outflow.

→ Concrete, PI-specific steps: the marker can see exactly how it works in this business.

Advantage

An advantage of distribution of payments for PI is that the business can maintain more cash flow, as larger outflow payments are broken up and moved to a later time, creating more achievable and realistic payments. It also ensures they have received sufficient cash inflow to satisfy the projected outflow, improving their liquid position and ensuring cash is available for the expansion.

→ The benefit is always linked back to the problem: liquidity for the expansion.

Disadvantage

The difficulty with this strategy is convincing suppliers to wait the extended period to receive payment for supplied inputs. Suppliers will also want to meet their own financial objectives and be paid on time, so negotiation with suppliers will be required.

→ An honest, realistic drawback, not a throwaway.

Reassurance: the advantage of the disadvantage

Regardless, if PI is successful in convincing some (not all) of its suppliers to adhere to these payment terms, they can still move a portion of their payments, easing cash flow pressure. Additionally, as PI expands, its increased production requires a larger volume of inputs, which awards PI more bargaining power in these negotiations.

→ This is the "R" in A-D-R: it shows the advantage still wins out.

Link back / conclude

As such, the distribution of payments strategy will allow PI to improve its cash flow issues and ensure it is prepared for financial stability throughout its expansion.

→ One clean sentence closing the loop back to the original problem.

5. The conclusion

Short and decisive. Do two things:

Summarise the three sections: one line each on what you recommended.
Frame it as a process: repeat the three strategies and the problem each one solved, as ordered steps the business should implement.

6. Before you hand it in

Does the executive summary give the actual answer to all three questions?
Is every strategy paired with the specific problem it solves?
Have you traced each strategy up to its syllabus topic?
Is every "how to implement" step specific to this business, using its name and details?
Does each body paragraph run problem → solution → how → advantage → disadvantage → reassurance?
Does the depth of each paragraph match its directive verb (describe / explain / evaluate)?
Does the conclusion restate the strategies as a set of steps?