Business Report Writing

Items to Consider for Part 1 Business Report Assignment

Below are things that should be considered when writing Part 1 of the business report assignment.

Research Items

Consider the following when researching the information for Part 1 of the report.

Per Diem. Per Diem rates should be determined using the U. S. Department of State website. The rates given in your report should be the rates determined by the U.S. State Department website for the capital city of the country. The web address for this site is given in the Business Report instruction sheet. Keep in mind that your hotel costs per night cannot exceed the lodging rate indicated on the website. In a real-world situation, if an executive spends more per day on lodging and/or meals and incidentals, the executive would be responsible for paying any additional amounts. This information must have a citation associated with it.

Dates of Travel and Airport. The executive should arrive in the capital city of the country you selected on Sunday, April 28. The departure date will be Sunday, December 8. The flights will originate and return to New Orleans International Airport. Depending on the country you selected, the executive may need to depart on Saturday, December 7, or Friday, December 6, to arrive in the city early on Sunday, December 8. Executives may not arrive in the city before Sunday, December 8. Do not use a travel site such as JustFly, Travelocity, Expedia, CheapFlights, etc. Use an airline website such as Delta, United, British Airways, etc. This information should be cited.

The paragraph you create regarding the flight information should be a small paragraph. Complete details about the flights will be displayed in a table. This information must have a citation associated with it.

COVID. While we are living in a COVID world, assume that the threat of COVID has finally ended. Remove all references to COVID from the report. However, if you are having difficulty finding flights to the country (due to COVID issues), please let me know as quickly as possible. I will try to determine a “workaround” for you.

Hotel. Select a hotel that has a nightly rate within the per diem for lodging. The hotel should be in the city center. The executive will check in on Sunday, December 8, and checkout on Sunday, December 15. Indicate the cost per night and the total cost of the lodging when discussing the hotel. Do not use a travel website such as Hotels.com, Booking.com, etc. Use an established hotel chain such as Hilton, Marriott, Radisson, etc. Be sure to discuss the amenities provided by the hotel. This information must be cited.

Cost of trip. This information must be displayed in table format. Be sure there is a leading sentence before the table. Round the amounts to the nearest dollar. The cost of the trip MUST be displayed in a table. The figures in the table should be right aligned and punctuation should be used in figures as needed. Be sure to check your figures carefully. The number of days for the M&I rate should be based on the number of days from the date the executive leaves New Orleans to the date the executive returns to New Orleans. For example: If the executive departs on Saturday, December 7 and returns on Monday, December 16, the M&I rate would be for 10 days.

Currency. Consider the following items: What is the official name of the currency of the country? How is the currency divided into denominations? Where are the most appropriate places to exchange money in the country (airports, banks, ATMs, hotels, etc.)? Give an example of the exchange rate on a specific date: example—On December 4 one US dollar is equal to 7.84 Hong Kong dollars. A citation will be necessary for currency conversion.

Temperature and weather information.  Be specific when discussing the temperature and weather.  You should discuss what average temperatures can be expected during December since that is when the executive will be in the country.  Include in the discussion the average weather during December —humidity, rainy season, windy, etc.  An executive would need this information to know what should be packed for the trip.  This information will need a citation.

Formatting Concerns

The following items should be taken into consideration when formatting all parts of the report.

Line/Paragraph Spacing. Paragraphs should be double-spaced. The paragraph setting should be set for double-space, with 0 pts. spacing before/after paragraphs.

Paragraphs. Paragraphs are indented to the first tab stop (.5 inches). Be sure to use the tab key to indent paragraphs. If you use the space bar, your spacing will not be accurate because fonts in word processing are proportional fonts.

Font for Body Text. The body of the report should be in a 12-pt. serif font. Several serif fonts are available in Microsoft Word. Times New Roman and Garamond are good examples of serif fonts. Be consistent in font usage—even the citations should be in the same font as the body text. Headings should also be in a 12-pt. font.

Center Alignment. Use the Center alignment icon in the Paragraph group on the Home tab to center align headings. If you use the space bar to center align items, the same problem occurs with accuracy due to proportional fonts.

Two Spaces After End Punctuation. While there is a movement toward spacing only once after end punctuation, it tends to make the document look crowded. Therefore, place two spaces after end punctuation. Look at your document carefully. There should only be one space between words in a sentence and two spaces after end punctuation.

Graphics. No graphics should be used in the body of the report. Therefore, do not copy/paste information from a website. For example, do not copy/paste flight or hotel information from the website you used to research that information.

Grammar Concerns

Listed below are some grammatical issues commonly found when evaluating business reports.

Punctuation in Numbers and Dollars. When you are expressing numbers such as $1,254.90, you must use a comma to separate the hundreds from the thousands placement. If you are expressing money, do not use the .00 if no cents are involved in the amount of money. Example: $25, not $25.00. The total cost of the flight is $987. The total cost of the flight is $1,234.85.

Ordinal Endings on Dates. If the month precedes the date, do not use an ordinal ending on the date. February 21st is incorrect. The correct expression is February 21.

Punctuating Dates. When dates contain more than one element, the second and succeeding elements are set off by commas. Example: On March 2, 2024, we will open for business.

Punctuating City and Country. Use commas to set off a country when it follows the name of a city. Example: The Smith family moved from Paris, France, to Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Expletives. Avoid sentences that begin with There is, It is, Here is. These are expletive beginnings. Reword the sentence to eliminate the expletive. Example: It is important that you remember to brush your teeth each night before bed. Reword the sentence to remove the expletive: Remember to brush your teeth each night before bed.

Punctuating a Series. Commas separate three or more items in a series. Example: Our ski package includes lodging, lift tickets, and equipment rental.

Different From or Different Than. Different from is correct. Different than is to be avoided.

Avoid Informal Wording and Abbreviations. Consider the following:
• Do not use 24/7. While this might be acceptable in verbal communication, it is not appropriate for formal writing. Spell words out completely—do not use slang or informal spellings—things are available 24 hours each day of the week.
• Do not use an abbreviated form of the date, such as 9/14. Dates must be spelled out—September 14. The correct way to style a date is Month/date/year—January 18, 2023. Do not use government/military style of date—18 January 2023. Do not use ordinal endings if the month precedes the date—January 18 is correct—January 18th is incorrect.
• Avoid redundancy—March—not the month of March.
• The correct expression of AM and PM is a.m. and p.m. There should be a space between the number(s) and the abbreviation—2:30 p.m. or 9 a.m.
• The correct expression of WIFI is Wi-Fi.
• Television should be expressed as either television or TV.

Contractions. Contractions should be avoided in formal writing. Example: I don’t understand what you mean. Reword to remove the contraction. I do not understand what you mean.

First-Person Pronouns. First-person pronouns (I, me, my, mine, we, us, our, ours) are not appropriate in formal writing.

Ending Sentences with Prepositions. In formal writing do not end a sentence with a preposition. Example: What professional organization is he a member of? This is informal writing. Instead, use a formal style of writing by saying—Of what professional organization is he a member?

Capitalize First Word of Sentence. The first word of a sentence must be capitalized. Therefore, if you begin a sentence with a number, the number must be spelled out. Example: 2 cats were playing on the back porch. To correct the problem, write: Two cats were playing on the back porch.

Complimentary vs. Free. Use complimentary instead of free when discussing items/services provided. Example: The hotel offers complimentary Wi-Fi in all sleeping rooms.

Costs and US Dollars. All costs should be displayed in US dollars. You may need to use a currency converter to determine the cost in US dollars if the information is given in the country’s currency. When a $ is placed in front of a number, the $ means US dollars. Therefore, it is not necessary to place the words US dollars after the number. Example: The lodging cost per night is $250. (Do not write—The lodging cost per night is $250 US dollars.)

Writing Time. Use the 12-hour clock to express time. Do not use the 24-hour clock. Example: The flight will land at 8 p.m. (Do not write—the flight will land at 20:00)

Sentences beginning with There are. Many writers tend to overuse the phrase “There are” to begin sentences. Read your work carefully to determine if you have overused “There are. “

Avoid Too Much Detail in Paragraph before Table. Avoid placing too much information in the sentences before you display the flight information in the table. Use sentences to tell which airline the executive will be using, the day/date of departure to the capital city, and the day/date departure from the capital city. Information about layovers, etc. should be placed in the table. To write it in sentence format and then duplicate it in table format is redundant. However, remember that the assignment requires the use of a table to display the flight information.

Citations. Be sure to cite appropriately. Citations are not used for word-for-word or quoted material only. Citations must be used for information that is not common knowledge. There should be a minimum of three citations in Part 1. However, you may need more than three. Required citations include:
• Per diem (be sure to use the US Department of State website—see assignment information for URL)
• Fight information
• Hotel information

In-text Citations vs. Reference Page: These items are not the same. An in-text citation is a brief reference within the body of the paper immediately following the information presented in the body. A reference is an elaborate version of the in-text citation that includes much more information than the in-text citation provides. A reference is included on the reference page at the end of the document. All references used (those cited in the body as well as those not cited in the body) should be included on the reference page.

Wikipedia. Wikipedia is not considered a scholarly reference. Do not use Wikipedia as a reference for your research.

Proofreading. Be sure to allow time for proofreading your document before submitting Part 1. Learn to use the markings in Word to help you find errors. However, keep in mind that Word will not find all errors.
• Double underlining under words indicates a misspelling. Rest your mouse on the misspelled word and right-click to display suggestions for corrections.

• Dotted lines under words indicate a grammatical error. Rest your mouse on the word and right-click to display suggestions for corrections.