Finally, the material should be arranged in a natural sequence and should lead to a logical conclusion.Brevity is essential in report writing, though of course all the important facts must be included. All too often; however, a report fails to accomplish its purpose because its author presents his material in a long-winded, round-about manner-like the copywriter who wrote :-. "The alkaline elements and vegetable fats in this product are blended in such a way as to secure the highest quality of saponification along with specific gravity that keeps it on top of the water, relieving the bother of the trouble and annoyance of fishing around for it in the bottom of the bath tub during his ablutions".

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Time is very valuable, and as a matter of fact there is rarely time available for a detailed study of voluminous reports and statistics. A report should be brief as is.4. BREVITY:Since a report is a written medium of communication, consideration, therefore, should be given to the simplicity in which the report is to be prepared. An effective written medium demands that a report should be described in language which can be understood by the reader. As such the report should, as far as possible, be in a simple and clear language. The report should be prepared without scientific and technical language but in all cases, it is not possible to avoid scientific and technical language.3, UNDERSTANDABLE LANGUAGE:Language is very essential in good communication. The report writer can adapt his own language but should write on the listeners level. This will make message' pleasing and interesting. An individual reader is interested to read anything which satisfies his purpose and desire. A pleasing message not only puts the reader at easebut also relaxes the reader. - The nature of the contents of a report cannot be known unless a report is suitably titled. Every report should be given an appropriate title which at a glance indicates the nature and subject of its contents. A short and suitable title should be selected. It is the title which indicates the object for which the report has been prepared. The title also indicates the person or the department who needs the reports. For instance 'Sales report', 'stores report', 'financial report' 'investigation report' etc. Thus these titles indicate that they are concerned to their respective departments.2. SIMPLICITY:1. SELECTING A TITLE:A report is prepared by a writer which the recipient has to read and as such it must be capable of being understood by the reader. The ultimate object of communicating in writing is that the reader must understand the matter in the same spirit as intended by the reader. As such while preparing the report the reporter or writer has to keep in mind certain general principles of a good reporting system. These principles are only general guidelines for effective writing. As a matter of fact these general principles cannot be applied uniformly as standardized guidelines. There may be variation or deviation depending upon the type of report and subject matter to be covered in the report. Written communication by reporting is effective only when it contains sufficient and relevant information. However, the following are some of the essentials or considerations to be taken into account while writing a report.The way a report is presented is also of utmost importance. Materials should be arranged so the reader can pick out the main facts and recommendations easily and quickly. And it has to be arranged in a form that will attract the attention of the reader, interest him while he's reading it, and leave him with a desire to do something about it.ESSENTIALS OF A GOOD REPORT

5. UNITY:

consistent with relevance. An unduly lengthy report may lead to confusion and mis-understanding, sometimes self-contradictory. So a report should be a short one. Written communication is effective when it is precise, specific, relevant and consistent. It is quite possible to incorporate brevity in a report by taking pains in developing thoroughness in the subject that excludes what is insignificant. Reading and understanding a brief report gives the reader time and opportunity to understand, decide and act on what the writer endeavors to put across. Using concise words, simple and familiar words and avoiding superfluous words are important. factors in effective written communication. . Including too much information in the report overwhelms the reader. The main findings and summary of the subject matter may be incorporated in the body in the main report and details may be annexed to the report at the end. J. Batty says that if the report is quite long, or detailed, then a synopsis should be prepared to cover all significant facts and conclusions.

Unity of writing implies a condition of being one. The principles of unity apply on three levels:the individual sentences must be unified.individual paragraphs must be unified.the totality of the message must be unified.The first principle demands that each simple sentence must contain a single idea clearly expressed. All sentences relating to a matter constitute a unified individual paragraph. Each paragraph in a section forms a unit of thought. All units of thought structurally constitute the message of entire communication or a unified message. Each unified individual sentence conveys only one central idea. It must be direct, simple, brief, clear and vigorous. Too much use of buts, ands, pompousness and technical jargon must be avoided. Prompt and adequate attention of the recipient is the essence of purposeful communication.Leland Brown states on unity that: An orderly arrangement of ideas flowing into other ideas and progressing to conclusions helps to achieve unity and is also a major aid to coherence. Placing the subordinate or lesser idea in the dependent clause and using a conjunction to point out the relationship indicate the relationship between a main idea and a subordinate idea in a sentence. In paragraphs and larger thought units, the relationship is indicated by some transitional means. This provides an element of sequence and motion that moves the reader in a definite direction toward accomplishing the purpose of communication.6. COHERENCE:

In addition to unity, coherence is also equally essential for good written communication. Clear communication in simple sentences helps the reader to understand rather than to misunderstand. Facts and figures must be stated plainly and in an intelligent manner. To achieve clarity in communication the principle of coherence is very much needed in written communication. Relation and clarity are the two important aspects of coherence. The principle of coherence applies to sentences, paragraphs and to the message as a whole. It is tying together of several ideas, under one main topic in any paragraph. By interlinking of paragraphs the whole message is tied together into a meaningful whole. Smooth flow, lucidity, and transition aspects should be given effects and there should not be any scope for the reader to mis-interpret, mis-read or mis-spell the message.

7. EMPHASIS:

The whole message consists of unity of sentence and unity of paragraphs of varying degree of importance. The ideas, facts and figures of them may have order of importance or priority. The next important or essential principle of written

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Communication, on which the communicator has to pay adequate attention, is the emphasis on ideas, facts and figures. Under this principle the degree of importance or emphasis is placed upon them indicating their relative power or values. The principle of emphasis may be incorporated by position, by repetition, by use of figures, by publications, by phrases, by mechanical devices and by skillful arrangement of paragraphs. Thoughts of greatest value or high degree of importance should be placed in the most prominent positions. A prominent position may be the beginning of a paragraph or section. Position is achieved by keeping ideas, facts or figures at the beginning.. 8. ACCURACY:

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11. ADAPTABILITY:The nature and' subject of the report and its coverage should, as far as possible be served and suited to the person using it, to the purposes for which it is required. Steps and remedial actions can be taken when the report contains in precise terms, possible suggestions, solutions and summary of recommendations. The advantage of written communication by reporting lies in various forms and varied presentations to suit the temperament and outlook of different persons at various levels of management.According to Welsch "In the design .of reports suited to the principal user, consideration must be given to the method of presentation. Those executives, who are going to utilize the reports, have different backgrounds, working methods, personalities and personal preferences. Executives having controllership background, prefer tabulated and detailed data, those having engineering background frequently prefer graphic presentations and highly summarized data".The matters contained in a report have a time value. The management can take a timely decision when the report is prepared in time and presented timely. Where control mechanism is in operation, control reports are used as controlling devices. Therefore, the report should be prepared immediately after the happening of an event so that decision may be taken before wrong is allowed to take serious turn. If the reports are not submitted timely it would be just a waste of time and money in respect of certain matters. Information and data are more useful when the facts are fresh in the minds of the persons concerned with the reports. As pointed out by Welsch timeliness is generally more important than a high degree of accuracy in the figures. The report should be prepared within the time originally fixed. The non-availability of timely information when needed may lead to wrong decisions. On the other hand the time required for preparation as far as possible should be fixed at minimum.10. TIMELY PRESENTATION:Preparation and presentation of a report involves cost. One of the essentials of reporting is the consideration of cost factor. The guiding principle is that the advantages derived from the use of such report should be more than the cost of preparing and presenting the report. The cost of preparing and presenting should be reasonable and within the affording capacity of an organization. If the cost of preparing a report is expensive and prohibitive, all types of concerns may not go for reporting system.9. COST:The subject matter of communication must be correct or accurate. The manner in which message is transmitted must be absolutely correct. Accuracy in writing can be achieved by careful checking and editing. Correctness demands in the case of figures, because decisions may go wrong if wrong figures are given. Overwriting, erasures, strikeovers, wrong spellings, faulty grammar, poor sentences, construction etc., may distract the readers and lead to misunderstanding. Written communication clearly means to make others to understand without effort.

The style of writing, arrangement, layout, the wordings to be included are to be well planned and as simple as possible.

12. MEDIA OF REPORT:

There are several media for presentation of a report. For instance a report may be presented in written form or oral form called oral report. A good reporting is on~ which is presented in the form which judicially blends different media. Thus the media selected decide the size and shape of the report.

13. FACILITATE COMPARISON:

A goods reporting system which facilities proper flow of information would be more effective and useful when it gives scope for comparison with previous figures, standards set for budget prepared. It is the comparison of actual performance with that of past or budgeted figures that will enable the reader or decision maker to find out trends or deviations. The authorities making decisions will be highly benefited with the comparative figures while making a decision. Remedial measures can also be taken to improve the performance. When a report provides a basis for comparison the reports gain considerably in meaning and significance. While making the comparison it must be true and fair and attention must be drawn to significant points of difference.

14. ATTRACTIVENESS:

R.B. Lewis has observed, "In meeting this broad requirement in reporting, the accountant assumes the role of an artist. His task is to print a picture that will appeal to the eyes. His report should serve as a panorama which is attractive in an artistic sense and, therefore, one that will be regarded and studied by the potential viewer".

METHODOLOGY