Elements of an Effective Executive Summary

Elements of an Effective Executive Summary

Independent meaning вЂ" The summary should be a stand-alone document with complete ideas, an introduction and a conclusion (neither of which should be titled). Do not refer to the rest of the report in your executive summary.

Grammar and spelling вЂ" Mistakes WILL make your reader DISCARD the rest of the report. This is your only chance to grab the reader’s attention! (More than three glaring errors per page = automatic recycling).

Essential message вЂ" ONLY discuss the major findings and important statistics. Material should be presented in a sequence that parallels the actual report.

Significant material вЂ" DO NOT INCLUDE: conjecture, long explanations, examples, extended definitions, visuals, or vague ideas (i.e. “large debt”).

Non-technical writing style вЂ" Use plain English guidelines (from Business Communication 112 and 122). Always write in the third person (e.g. the Marketing V.P. or company name вЂ" NEVER use I, we, us etc.) Never phrase suggestions as “you should….”

Numbers - Round numbers considerably (e.g. $2,956,675 = $3 million), except for key measurements that must be accurately reported (e.g. “An increase of 27.7% for a total net profit of $220,000.)

Conciseness - Be concise, but never at the expense of clarity or comprehensiveness.

Summary вЂ" Cover all significant issues contained in the main report while building the desire to continue reading. Create the Executive Summary after writing the report. Never cut and paste. Rule of thumb for size is 1/10th the entire report up to a maximum of three pages.