Types Of Business Documents

What are the different types of business documents? There are many types of business documents. All companies such as start-ups, Small and medium enterprises and listed companies use these documents to perform various purposes. These documents range from small e-mail messages to complicated results announcements which come at the end of every financial year. In this article, we will look at some of the types of business documents that are frequently used.

Financial documents

There are many types of financial documents used for different purposes. It uses these documents to stay on its budget, prepare business proposals and file tax returns among other activities. They range from simple to other complicated documents. In addition, a company uses these documents to analyse its performance and identify gaps in which the competitors used. This document could be prepared by an accountant of the company or the secretary of the board. Financial statements which are a part of financial documents are put into several categories which are: statement of financial position, statement of comprehensive income, statement of changes in equity and statement of cash flows.

Letters

Despite the influence of the internet which led to a reduction of the use of letters, they are still widely used in the corporate world. Letters have the advantage in that they represent a more formal approach to business communication. Recipients of business letters could be: service providers, advisors, related businesses and job applicants. A business letter is usually written in block style where all the content is aligned to the margin of the line. Letters are types of business documents that have been used in all types of businesses especially when dealing with governmental or regulatory bodies. For example, when sending tax information to the government offices businesses rely on letters.

Reports

Business reports are an essential part of any business. These reports are usually, used to convey detailed information regarding the business operations. For example, when a business requests a financial or environmental audit to be done, the information that is sent back to the business by the auditing body is called a report. Reports are usually detailed business documents that could include other details such as graphs, tables and figures. A report could also be periodic in nature. For example, a company may decide to carry out an environmental audit annually. In this case, the business reports will be periodic in nature.

E-mails and Memos

Companies usually use e-mails for a variety of functions. For example, companies have integrated their e-mailing activities for job hiring. In this case, they have replaced the traditional use of letters for people to send in their job applications. Other uses of e-mails include internal communication with employees on less formal details. However, e-mails can also be used for external communication if a company has many branches worldwide. Memos are other types of business documents which are used for internal communication. For example, if a business executive wants to have a meeting with his employees, one of the easiest thing to use is a memo indicating the venue and time of the meeting. However, e-mails have led to a reduction in the amount of memos that are sent. However, they are still being used to date but in a less scale.

There are other types of business documents which include: transactional documents, business plans and certificates among others.