若按撰写人的切入角度来看，报告可以分为事实陈述性报告和观点表达性报告两个大类。前者以信息汇总为主，后者以提出建议为主。
若按撰写人投入的程度来分，商务报告可以分为三类：主要提供某一信息的情报类报告，主要提出分析结果和多项选择性建议的分析型报告，对提供的信息进行研究分析的研究类报告，后者并不一定要提供解决的办法。
不管是哪种形式，都应说明一个具体的问题，而且要以一定的公文格式呈递。
2、报告的语言
撰写英语商务报告，所用的词汇应当比较正式，语法应当正确，格式应当规范。
文字叙述方式应当完整、清晰、简洁。
报告中对事情、原因、建议等的描述和阐述应当具体、客观，尽量少用带有个人喜好和评判性的词语及口吻。
3、报告的撰写
应当把撰写商务报告的过程看作一个工作流程：确定选题、收集资料、理清事实、分析原因、起草提纲、排列要点、补缀细节、修饰完善、排版打印、包装呈递。
概括一点说，撰写商务报告的过程可以分为收集资料、分析研究、撰写报告、修改提交等数个步骤。
首先应当收集资料，这可以是观察、试验、走访、电话访问、网上问卷、问卷调查、部门汇报等第一手资料，也包括公司的存档文件、各种数据库、各种贸易统计和年鉴、工商名录、行业期刊、报纸杂志、尚未公开出版的材料等二手资料。
其次是整理信息、描述事实、分析调查结果，进而提出观点、加以论证，有条有理地展示调查结果或者统计数据，说明目前具体局面，预测未来发展趋势，并提出相应的建议。
二、简式报告　Brief Reports
简式报告又称为非正式报告。简式报告主要是指商务活动中一些填表式的文件，它们遵循固定的套话和格式，例如预算报告、财务报表、损益表，有些议定书、商品检验证书、品质证书、卫生检验证书、动物、植物检疫证书、银行保函、履约保函、资格证明、财务审计报告等。
简式报告一般结构简单、事情简单、篇幅较短，在用词上也不那么严谨，许多实例报告中甚至语法不通、错别字比比皆是，但是并不妨碍公司业绩蒸蒸日上、员工收入节节攀升。
简式报告多采用表格、备忘录、信函形式，有些干脆就是预先印制好的报告单。
许多有抬头、有落款的公文，其实质内容是由下向上的报告，这便是信函式报告，往往用于性质单纯的一般业务汇报。
在实际工作中，简式报告的使用比正式报告更为频繁。如公司内部的信息交流，分公司的销售情况，各部门的业务状况等都要定期撰写简式报告，向公司上层汇报。本课程对目标读者的定位，便是简介如何撰写简式报告和比较短小的正式报告。
例1. 内部简式建议报告
Recommendation Report
Based on the idea that the company would provide a fund equivalent to RMB 1,500 yuan per person, I would like to discuss the following three options of reward.
Number 1 is a valuable gift from the company. According to survey, every employee likes gift, and the RMB 1,500 could surely give employee a decent gift. However, different employee has different tastes, so it's very hard to make everybody satisfied by giving gifts.
Number 2 is a pay-rise. The reward sure could attract employees attention and it's surely a good honor. However, if the company give RMB 1,500 yuan every employee equally, people with more responsibilities and tasks would not be satisfied. So it could not encourage employees properly. It will decrease hard-working employee's enthusiasm.
Number 3 is a trip to Thailand. I would like to highly appreciate this method. Trip costs to Thailand won't cost company too much if we organize with a good travel agent, and by staying and playing in Thailand, our employee could get in close touch with each other, the company's group spirit could be improved. This season is the best to travel, everybody would like to relax after a hard-working period. So personally, I think trip to Thailand is the best option.
by Liu Tingting, UIBE  —Topgem program,2003
例2. 内部审计报告提要       
Internal Audit Report
Inadequate stock-take procedures
Inventory ledgers to be location specific
Controls over purchase orders to be improved
Provisions to be made for obsolete inventory
Documentation and analysis of accruals inadequate
Current accounting system inefficient to manage day-to-day operations
Lack of controls over cash at bank and ineffective use of cash at bank
Delivery & Return of Goods procedures to be improved
Segregation of duties in the Sales Department to be improved
Accounts Receivable and bad debts management to be formalized
例3. 信函式纳税报告
Dear Jimmy Littleton:
Enclosed are an original and a copy of your 2004 corporate income tax returns, the details of which appear below. On each of the two reports, please sign your name and date in every place you see a check mark. Then place the originals in the enclosed, pre-addressed envelopes.
Federal Income Tax Return
    　Attach a check in the amount of $_______ made payable to the Internal
    　Revenue Service.
   　 Due to an overpayment, you are entitled to a refund of $_______.
    　No tax is due on your return.
State Income Tax Return
    　Attach a check in the amount of $ ___, made payable to the Texas
   　 Department of Revenue.
    　Due to an overpayment, you are entitled to a refund of $_______.
    　No tax is due on your return.
Please check these income tax returns carefully to make sure they are accurate and that you sign in all the appropriate places. If you have any questions, please give me a call on phone 1234-5678.
Yours truly,
Jerome Hagerman
Taxation Office
       例6. 简式市场综述和预测报告  
2002 Market Segmentation: Soft Drinks in Beijing
This report attempts to represent the market shares in Beijing of five soft drinks for the early summer period of the year 2002.
The carbonic acid drink category is so far the most important of all soft drinks in the marketplace. This group of drink brands takes up nearly half of the market share pie chart.
Within the carbonic class, Coca and Pepsi Colas are the major players, netting 22.6% of the soft market in a duo, and nearly half of the carbonic acid total in Beijing. The rest of the market is shared out to such indigenous brands as Future Cola and Jianlibao.
Bottled water has the second biggest market share at 28.9%. This sector has been picking up fast, partly due to intensified water pollution in recent years, when people prefer bottled natural water to tap water. Nongfu Spring, Wahaha, and Robust are the top three in this group.
Next come the tea beverages, which take 12.4% of the total soft market. From a restrained base this sector has developed quickly for their health and taste features to the liking of the Chinese. A typical brand is perhaps Xurisheng.
The remaining market go to the dairy drinks, fruit juice and vegetable extracts, what people call the "future drinks". These now take only between 8.4% and 6.5% of the total, but they promise a bright future.
                      
三、正式报告　Working Reports
正式报告多指企业年度报告书、项目进展报告、考察报告、可行性研究报告、问题/事故调查报告、产品分析、专题调研、营销计划、年度总结等。正式报告则篇幅较长，内容较多，包括若干部分，常装订成册。
一份正式的商务报告一般包括以下四大部分，各部分中的项目有时可以省略，有时还需要比较完善，表现形式也更为讲究一些。
一是首页部分，这个部分相当于电子文件的属性，主要提供有关背景知识，包括报告标题、作者姓名和单位、呈送对象、鸣谢、日期、目录、导言等。其中的导言部分用来说明为什么写这份报告，采用了什么样的调查方法和分析方法等等。
二是总结或摘要部分。摘要(Summary)是整个报告内容的概括，虽说是在写完报告主体之后才摘要提炼出来的，但是往往放在最终成文报告的前面。 摘要的目的是以总结的形式表达报告正文的主要内容，以便报告的读者(往往是上司或其它单位的人)能在短时间内很快把握报告的要点。写摘要时要注意限制篇幅，一般一两段、三四段就可以了，报告正文再长的摘要，也最好不要超过一页。
三是包括报告正文、结论、建议三大内容的报告主体部分，在这里你得阐明自己的调查结果或研究结果，说明这种调研发现了什么问题、或者发现了问题的什么样的原因，对解决问题提供了什么样的思路，还应当提出你认为应当采取什么措施等等。
四是列出参考资料、其它附录、附件或补充材料。这个部分主要提供有关材料，属于放到报告中去会使得报告各部分比例不协调，或者会扰乱报告本身的阐述，但是为了说明问题又必须呈现给读者的附加材料，如图表、实验报告、参考书目、其它附录、照片等等。
正式报告越来越明显的一个特点，便是图表和各种图形、图像的应用。显然这与电脑的广泛应用密切相关。图表的类型有很多，例如表格、图形。其中表格的种类和格式分为许多种，图形又分为圆形表、柱形表、曲线表等。相信现在的年轻人都会使用，不再赘言。
例7. 市场细分分析报告  
China Overview: Soft Drinks Market
The beverage market has great potential in China. The industry had kept a yearly growth averaging 23 percent from the early 1980s. The varieties of soft drinks have shown drastic changes along with market demands.
Market Segmentation
By mid-2002, the bottled soft drink ranks first with its production volume up to 5.54 million tons, followed by carbonic acid drink of 4.20 million tons, and then tea drinks which amounted to 1.85 million tons. This big cake has attracted giants from all over the world, such as Coca-cola, PepsiCo, Unilever and Nestle.
In this summer coca-cola will introduce their new fruit juice "QOO", which has been targeted at kids and teenagers. Coca-cola was reported to plan a spending of US$ 1,000 million on research and development, and the company intends to take up about 40 percent of the market share.
After the great marriage with The Quaker Oats Company in 2001, PepsiCo becomes the No 1 in the non-cola market. In contrast to Coca-cola, the major offense from PepsiCo will the juice "DOLO" aimed at the "highbrow" people.
Demographic Segmentation
Demographic segmentation is based on characteristics of populations such as age, gender, and income. In general, young people consume more beverages than the older, and women drink more juices and teas than men.
And income has much to do with drink consumption. Annual per capita income varies widely in China, from a low of RMB 4,724 Yuan in Shanxi Province to a high of RMB 11,718 Yuan in Shanghai. This certainly will exert its impacts and prints on the beverages market. Nevertheless, there are large, fast growing, high-income segments in all areas of continental China.
Function Segmentation
On the beverage market, manufacturers continuously create different tastes, functions and ingredients. In general, consumers tend to demonstrate different inclinations to the package rather than loyalty to brands. Among six beverage products, cola is the most popular, which takes up 92%. Though for a long time mineral water has yet to popularize, it closely follows with the traditional carbonated drinks. Juice and tea have a low proportion, but their market shares are on the rise from drizzle to pour.
Behavior Segmentation
As the differentiation between the varieties become less distinctive, brand becomes more important in influencing consumer behavior. The big picture is segmented by consumer habits of brand selection. People who stick to the same brand (14%) are much fewer than those who are apt to multi-brands (54%). There are 15% of the total consumers who choose brand at random.
...
Note: Abridged and adapted from "Report of a new juice in 2002 summer market" by Ms Zhou Jing
例8. 市场调查报告媒体发布版 
Web Use in China
China's Internet users continue to double in number every six months, but the country's Web surfers remain deeply worried about network security and the reliability of e-commerce transactions.
A recent Research Survey on the domestic information technology sector discovered some issues of serious importance. This includes a description of the "typical" Chinese Internet user, a summary of the differences in Internet use between residents of sampled urban communities, prospects for e-commerce in China, and Chinese Internet users' leading concerns about network security.
Geographic Distribution
Of urban residents across much of the country, an average of 00.00 percent have used the Internet one way or another. As expected, in large cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, the percentage points tend to have been remarkably higher than other parts of China, where quite a number of people gave no answer to the survey questions on Internet access.
In provincial capitals such as Shijiazhuang, Zhengzhou and Xi'an and in most coastal cities, 00.00 percent said they had used the Net.
The number of Internet users tends to decline as one goes west from China's coastal areas to its central and western regions. In big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, the rate reached 00.00 percent. In other large cities, the rate was 00.00 percent on average.
Geographically speaking, however, there was a higher rate of Internet use at home (00.00 percent) in the country's central and western areas than in its eastern areas (00.00 percent).
Residents in the big cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou have much higher rates of computer ownership than those in other Chinese cities. However, the ownership rate is also high in some medium-size cities such as Wenzhou at 00.00 percent).
Typical Internet Users
The survey found that by the end of last year, China had over 00 million Internet users, up by a moderate 00.00 % compared with the previous year. The number of Internet users in China used to double every six months.
About 00.00 percent of Chinese families own computers, and an additional 00.00 percent had access beyond the household. Of these families, 00.00 percent of the family members are regular users of the Internet and its services. Among those who use the Internet at home more than half use it for playing virtual games.
Internet use is proportional with monthly income and education. The survey found that the more education a person has had, the more likely that person was to use the Internet. Also, the higher a person's monthly income, the more likely the person is to use the Internet.
Young people are dominant users of the Internet. Among the 15-24 year-olds, about 00.00 percent of home computer users have used the Internet. This figure is 00.00 percent for the 25-34 age group, 00.00 percent for the 35-44 demographic and 00.00 percent for the 45-54 demographic brackets. The survey also found that Chinese men are twice as likely to use the Internet as are women.
Which Web Sites?
Following years of development, China had about 0000 e-commerce Web sites by the end of this March. Of the world's Web sites, Sohu, Yahoo! and Sina.com were the most popular Web sites in China. The survey found that Yahoo! was Chinese urban residents' favorite Web site. In May, Yahoo! led with 00.00 percent, followed by Sohu with 00.00 percent and Sina at 00.00 percent.
Security Concern
The survey found that the top worry for Chinese Internet users was security of paying online. Overall, more than 00.00 percent of those surveyed expressed concern about this issue.
This rate differed by category of user and was 00.00 percent for individuals, 00.00 percent for company employees and 00.00 percent for members of government agencies.
These figures demonstrate that the most urgent task of China's e-commerce sector was to establish a secure environment for making purchases online.
 　　Source: The China E-Business Net
Note: The figures cited are fictional.
例9. 市场行情分析与建议提要报告     
Market Watch: Rapeseed Prices
Date: July 6, 2004
1. Rapeseed in summary
1.1. Crushing season from November till May of next year
1.2. Mainly for the domestic market, which is not stable and changes along with the feed industry
1.3. Domestic demand is seasonal, which is strong July to October when rapeseed is used for pond fishery.
1.4. Export mainly to South Korea. Demand there is stable, at 15,000 - 20,000 metric tons per month
2. Price Risks
2.1. Price easily fluctuating caused by domestic and overseas demands.
2.2. Rapeseed oil price is the key factor for concern. Sufficient knowledge of and close watch on the edible vegetable oil market is helpful to monitor the trends of the meal price.
2.3. Weather conditions in the regions alongside the Yangtze River should be of great concern, since it can be harmful both to shipment of meals and their prices.
3. Price Risk Management
3.1. Better and more researches and investigations of the market through more frequent exchange of information with traders and timely visits of edible oil makers.
Market investigation checking list:
a). Domestic production
b). Domestic demand
c). Overseas demand
d). Quantity of imported seed
e). Ways of cooperation with suppliers
3.2. More careful in the selection of reliable partners and suppliers. For the first-time traders, it is important if P-bond can be secured.
3.3. Direct cooperation with capable oil makers should be one of the major routes in our efforts to minimize price risks.
3.4. Arrangements to be made with suppliers to share profit and risk based on position trading, so as to reduce or avoid the possibility of price fluctuation and non-delivery.
3.5. Identification of and contact with an insurance company that is capable of covering shortage claims in cases of shortage over 2%.
         例10. 市场竞争态势分析报告       
Dover Elevators in China
1. Background & Objective
Dover Far East Elevator Company (referred to as "Dover Company" thereafter) specializes in the sales, installation and maintenance of elevators. Under the new situation, we must act immediately and vigorously to make full use of the golden opportunity. We should review our position in the current Chinese elevator market and re-adjust our business strategy. Only in this way can we obtain a bigger market share and become a winner in the increasingly fierce competition of marketplace.
The sales department of Beijing subsidiary has been conducting a market research by collecting and analyzing the information from recent bidding projects we participated in Beijing. Based the analysis on product pricing and sales service, we have come to the conclusion that Dover should readjust its strategy by cutting down the current price level and enhancing our after-sales services.
The objective of this report is to present the current problems on product pricing and after-sales services and make suggestions for improvement. Should Dover Company readjust its business strategy? How should the firm do it?
2. Elevator Customers
2.1 Types of Customers
From the early 1980s to the mid-i 990s, big public buildings and multi-story office buildings were built in large numbers in most cities in China. The major demand for elevators was directed to high-quality imported products. Customers were mainly from large-sized businesses or government sectors. In recent years, with the booming of real estate business, the market potential for low-cost residential elevators has grown considerably. Real estate developers are becoming the major customers in Chinese elevator market.
2.2 Customer Behavior
From the early 1980s to the mid-i 990s, most customers paid close attention to the brand names and quality of elevators. Nowadays, customers are becoming more mature-in a market with more and more brands of elevators, they focus not only on the brand name and quality, but also on the prices and after-sales services. We had very deep impression about it in recent tendering projects. What we were asked most frequently were questions. Concerning after-sales services, namely, the date of delivery, period of installation, measures to guarantee the quality of installation, the establishment of maintenance centers, period of charge-free guarantee, and so forth.