Understanding company data allows you to have a complete overview of the health of your business. If you are in a position of managerial responsibility in a company, there are certainly many questions to ask. Does the company reflect a profit at the end of the year? What are the most productive areas? Should you buy new plants? Is it better to apply for new funding? In order to acquire a good appreciation of the answers to such questions, there is an essential tool at your disposal: corporate reporting.
The definition of corporate reporting
A corporate reporting system is basically a table that contains numbers and data that must be read correctly to ascertain valuable information. To do this, it is necessary to bring out the most important elements and leave out those that are less relevant, thus transforming corporate reporting models into real forms of communication.
There are various examples of corporate reporting, including sales, warehouse and production statistics, as well as budget and business plans, and budget analysis. This large quantity of data and figures must be channeled in a targeted way, so as to choose the most appropriate strategies and possibly adopt the necessary corrections.
Excel-business reporting may be difficult to read, especially if there is an overabundance of data, percentages, numbers and information. Corporate reporting must therefore be easily understood and immediately highlight the most relevant data. Indeed, business data is an invaluable resource and this must be exploited to create value for a company. We at We Are Fiber know how to collect data to carry out a company management and reporting control, in order to provide you with clear and intuitive data to keep your company in perfect shape.
The various types of reporting in the corporate economy
There are different types of corporate reports, but these can be divided into two primary macro-categories: management and operational. The distinction lies mainly in the recipients of the reporting.
Management reports are addressed to management and top management who, having precise data available, can make critical decisions in a short space of time or implement sudden strategy changes. Operational reports, on the other hand, are intended for managers and intermediate bodies.
Depending on the purpose, the reports also have important structural differences. Management reports are much more concise, as they must ensure transparency, clarity and immediate understanding. Operational reports, alternatively, are more detailed, because they are intended for responsibility centers that must guarantee careful and scrupulous control of the various company sectors.
How to achieve perfect corporate reporting
Let's now analyze an example of corporate reporting that ensures clarity, comparability, flexibility, timeliness, relevance and regular distribution.
Firstly, avoid the use of a generic name, such as “Table 1” or “Schema 1”. Your report must have a clear and immediately identifiable title. During a meeting, there can be numerous sheets and tables under examination and the aspects to be evaluated vary, so the report must have a title easily understood by everyone, where there is no need to read the internal descriptions to deduce the content. Ensure that the title is clearly given on the table, placed on top and center-aligned, and use appropriate, easily recognizable fonts and colors.
Budget analysis and corporate reporting involves the use of a massive amount of figures. Many errors arise as a result of numbers placed after the comma which, in a nutshell, are equivalent to euro cents that do not shift the balance of the company. The best thing to do is to round up, making the report more readable without sacrificing accuracy. In the same way, separate thousands, so as to provide greater visual and mental order in your table.
The brain is used to reasoning in a schematic way: when you read or write, you always start from the left, unlike the analysis of a number, which starts from the right. In order to keep things simple for the brain and ensure that reading a report is straightforward, the numbers should go on the right, the descriptions on the left in the first column, and the title of the report and the descriptions of the column should be centered in the top rows.
So many numbers dancing before one’s eyes can be difficult to read. In order not to strain the eyes too much, alternate the line colouring between white and soft gray, demarcating these with very evident black lines. Gray is also suitable for the inner edges of a table, as it increases contrast and improves readability.
Final attention should be given to the stationery, a concern that is anything but secondary. It is advisable not to print an excessive quantity of numbers, selecting only those that hold relevant weight in the final decision. If, on the other hand, it is important data that you cannot ignore, print the report on an A3 sheet, so as to facilitate the analysis and comparison process.
Now that you know how to create your business report, consider We Are Fiber, the ideal partner to collect valuable data from your company, in order to allow analysis and fundamental strategic decisions for the future of your business.