skills/client-deliverables/references/written-reports.md

# Written reports and decision memos

## Match the reader's job

Preserve the client's template and requested length. A short memo may contain only a recommendation, supporting economics, risk, and decision request. A full report may need a method, evidence trail, and appendices. Do not add a cover, contents page, or implementation plan when it does not serve the requested artifact.

Use a standalone executive summary: decision, rationale, value or consequence, principal limitation, and next action. Write it against the completed analysis and update it after material revisions. The report should let a reader trace a headline to supporting evidence without following the author around a folder tree.

## Analysis and recommendation sections

Connect finding → evidence → interpretation → decision implication. Combine these in prose where separate headings would repeat the same point. Put the source close to consequential facts and distinguish quotations, calculations, and judgment. For multiple data sources, record definitions, period, population, and reconciliation limitations.

A recommendation should explain its trade-off, feasibility, and the condition that would reverse it. Use a scenario or sensitivity view when uncertainty changes the decision; probabilities require a basis and are not mandatory. Unknown owners may be proposed by role, and dates may be relative to approval, provided these are labeled proposals.

## Investment committee memo

Use the fund's format if supplied. Otherwise select the sections that support this transaction:

- Decision requested, investment thesis, equity commitment, and conditions.
- Business, market, customer and revenue quality, management, and evidence limitations.
- Historical performance, adjustments, management versus underwriting case, working capital, capex, and cash conversion.
- Sources and uses, capital structure, funding timing, covenants if relevant, and returns on a consistent basis.
- Downside, concentration and renewal exposure, diligence gaps, deal terms, and integration feasibility.
- Value creation, accountable operating actions, exit assumptions, and recommendation.

For private-equity returns, state the hold period, equity cash flows, distributions, exit proceeds, and basis of MOIC and IRR. Do not mix enterprise value with the equity investment. A named investment thesis is a set of propositions to test, not a reason to suppress contrary evidence. Unpriced risks can still require a condition or a decline.

## Assembly and collaboration

For a multi-author report, agree an outline owner, section ownership, terminology, source conventions, and integration points. Parallel independent sections can be useful; conflicting edits need one integration owner. Do not impose a particular staffing model or review chain on a solo task.

Keep a clear current version and preserve review history appropriate to the engagement. Resolve conflicting figures and stale cross-references during assembly. Respect document classification and client sharing rules. Preparing a report does not authorize sending it or representing that it has received client approval.

## File review

Check that headings, tables, notes, and appendices have a usable hierarchy. For a long report verify the table of contents, page numbers, figure references, and final executive summary. Inspect the rendered document for overflow, stranded headings, awkward page breaks, and small table text. A short document need not carry machinery intended for a full study.