| dc.description.abstract | An abstract or executive summary comes immediately after the list of tables in the table
of contents or on/after the title page itself. Normally, a report has either an abstract or an
executive summary, based on the length of the report and expectations of readers. A company
practice may be to have both an abstract and an executive summary with long reports.
A summary:
• Should give the context of the report
• Should provide the most important findings, conclusions, and recommendations
• Should act as a time-saver for busy management executives
Usually, management reports use executive summaries instead of abstracts. An abstract
is a summary of a report’s most important points. It can be either descriptive or informative
and is generally written in about 200 words and in one paragraph. An executive summary
gives a more detailed overview of a report than an abstract does. It can run into one or two
pages. It presents the reader with a preview of the report’s findings, conclusions, recommendations,
and impact on the company. Management executives sometimes need to know just
the main contents of a report, specially its conclusions and recommendations, and a detailed
synopsis in the form of an executive summary serves this purpose. | en_US |
