A Canadian business report opens with an executive summary that states the findings and recommendation rather than previewing them, uses numbered sections, and closes with recommendations specifying action, owner, timeline and cost. Reports are marked on format as well as content at most Canadian institutions.
Report or Essay
Canadian business programs set both, and confusing them is the most common structural error:
- Report — numbered headings, findings before discussion, actionable recommendations, exhibits, written for a decision maker.
- Essay — continuous prose building toward a conclusion, written for an academic reader.
Most rubrics include a format or professionalism criterion, so an essay with headings applied loses marks before the content is assessed.
Section Order
- Title page — title, prepared for, prepared by, date, course
- Letter of transmittal where required — a short covering note
- Executive summary — one page, findings and recommendation
- Table of contents with numbered sections
- Introduction — purpose, scope, methodology, limitations
- Findings — numbered subsections, one issue each
- Analysis or discussion — what the findings mean
- Conclusions — no new material
- Recommendations — numbered and prioritised
- References, usually APA 7th in Canadian business programs
- Appendices — referenced from the body
Write the executive summary last. It states what the report found and what should happen, not what the report will cover. A reader should be able to make a decision from it alone. Summaries that begin "This report examines…" are introductions in the wrong place.
Recommendations That Earn Marks
Four elements each:
- Action — one specific thing
- Owner — a role, not "management"
- Timeline — a date or period
- Resource — cost, headcount or system requirement
Add a measure where you can: what number would show it worked. Canadian rubrics frequently include feasibility as an explicit criterion, and an uncosted recommendation cannot be assessed for it.
Exhibits and Appendices
Every exhibit must be referenced from the body and must earn its place. An appendix nobody is directed to is not read, so material essential to your argument belongs in the report itself. Number exhibits and give each a title that states the finding, not just the topic.
Referencing
APA 7th is standard across Canadian business programs, though some use Harvard. Cite the case, industry data, company filings and academic sources. Statistics Canada data should be cited with the specific table number, and company financials with the filing and year.
Where Marks Are Lost
- An executive summary that previews rather than reports
- Recommendations without cost or owner
- Findings and analysis merged, burying the reasoning
- Unnumbered sections in a report that required numbering
- Exhibits never referenced from the body
- Exceeding the word limit, which Canadian programs generally enforce
Frequently asked questions
What goes in an executive summary?
The findings and the recommendation, written so a reader could act on them without reading further. It is not an introduction previewing the report’s scope. Write it last, once you know what the report actually concluded.
Which referencing style do Canadian business programs use?
APA 7th is the most common across Canadian business programs, with Harvard used in some. Your course outline is the authority. Statistics Canada data should be cited with the specific table number and company financials with the filing and year.
How detailed should recommendations be?
Each should specify the action, the owner as a role rather than "management", a timeline, and the resource required. Adding a success measure strengthens it further, since feasibility is an explicit criterion on many Canadian rubrics and an uncosted recommendation cannot be assessed for it.
Do markers read appendices?
Not necessarily, and they are not obliged to. Every exhibit should be referenced from the body, and anything essential to your argument belongs in the report itself rather than in an appendix a marker may never open.
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