Both business letters and reports have vital but distinctive roles within corporate communication. Business letters, for example, may confirm an agreement or reject a request, while a business report may record everything from a business trip to a company meeting.
Business letters often communicate positive or negative news and other business matters to an audience external to a company or organization, whereas business reports usually provide detailed factual information to a variety of audiences.
Primary types of business letters include:
- acknowledgment
- adjustment
- collection
- complaint
- inquiry
- rejection
- sales letters
Principal business reports are progress and activity reports, feasibility reports, investigative reports and incident reports.
Business letters have seven primary elements, such as the salutation and the closing, plus many additional features. Common elements for business reports include the title page, table of contents, abstract, appendixes and bibliography.
Both business letters and reports usually follow highly structured formats. Business letters are rarely more than one or two pages in length, while business reports may stretch from a few pages to a few hundred.
Effective business letters and business reports are those that clearly and persuasively communicate the purpose of the writer, as well as adhere to the accepted standards for that medium of business communication.
