What are management reports and how to use them in your company

Some business documents work as true guides for the entrepreneur who wants to achieve business success. This is the case of management reports, which gather relevant information to identify what needs to be corrected, improved or reinforced in different areas.

For this reason, those who seek to improve activities and grow the business must make decisions based on these documents. The goal is to achieve the best results in a simple and informed way.

In this article, you will understand what management reports are and how they can be useful in your business routine. Keep reading and check it out!

What are management reports?

Management reports are documents that gather data and generate analyzes on projects, actions, and strategic areas of the company. In this way, they serve as a basis for more qualified business management.

They can be of different types — financial, accounting, sales, productivity, and even quality control. Its purpose is to show an overview of the business and provide relevant information for decision-making.

Thus, it is possible to conduct corrective actions, improve processes and achieve better and better results. It is worth mentioning that for a management report to be reliable, it is necessary to follow rigorous methods of analysis, research, and organization of data.

After all, the information presented in the file will guide management actions and define the path the company should follow. In other words, it is essential to avoid errors and inconsistencies to obtain more accurate results and benefit business strategies.

In this sense, the development of technology allows companies to use systems to automate the creation of management reports. That way, they become safer and more convenient — especially compared to manually filled out spreadsheets.

What are the main types of management reports?

As you have seen, management reports can be of different types. Discover the main alternatives that can be used in your company:

Cash flow management reports

Cash flow reports provide a complete view of the company’s financial movements. With them, it is easier to control cash inflows and outflows frequently. Therefore, these reports are indispensable for efficient management.

Through them, it is also possible to understand which dates had a negative and positive balance in the month. Thus, managers will have more security to make decisions about investments, costs, credit raising, and other financial factors of the business.

In addition, the cash flow report is the basis for analyzing the financial health of the organization. It is the one that allows you to find out if it is necessary to adjust prices, reinforce collections, or carry out promotions, for example.

Income statement for the year

Also known as DRE , this report includes analytical accounting values. Its objective is to present the net results for the year in a given period. In this way, it reflects the profitability of the company.

This detailing can be done from the calculation of specific data, such as costs, revenue and general expenses. From this, it is possible to analyze the financial health of the enterprise, identify if there are more frequent profits or losses, and define corrective plans if necessary.

It should be noted that the DRE is also a powerful tool for the entrepreneur to define the future of the company through investments, partnerships, and other strategies.

balance sheet management reports

The balance sheet allows you to view the real condition of a company’s equity. A detailed survey of data is carried out to validate the balances of business accounts and present their financial, accounting and economic position.

In addition, the balance sheet identifies the assets, liabilities and equity of the company. Therefore, it is essential to carry out a financial diagnosis of the organization.

Sales management reports

The sales report presents information to identify the most traded products or services and how the commercial area is performing. The document details billing, and salespeople’s performance in relation to goals, among other essential information to improve processes.

Payment analysis management reports

The payment report shows the company’s expenses and allows you to separate them into categories. With this document, you can better control your accounts payable and identify how much each class contributes to the company’s total spending — which allows you to optimize the use of resources and cut costs.

Business Budget management reports

This report helps to outline strategies to optimize the company’s profitability. For this, information such as forecast income and expenses, possible sources of income, costs, demands and financial objectives are considered. The analysis is based on data from previous periods.

How to use management reports in the company?

After understanding what they are and what types of management reports can be prepared, it’s time to know how they can be used in the company. As there are several alternatives, documents are able to meet different strategic demands of the business.

For example, reports allow you to identify:

• budget planning conditions;
• business financial situation;
• overall or segmented performance;
• productivity in a given period etc.

The purpose of the document must be defined according to the needs and demands of the business. In addition, regardless of the purpose, the management report must contain conclusive data that facilitate general decision-making.

Among the information that can be useful is the development of projects, the quality of financial transactions, and the balance between expenses and income. Therefore, in addition to indicating important corrections, the documents point out the organization’s financial conditions.

In this way, they allow strategic planning to be more accurate and increase the company’s chances of standing out from the competition in the market.