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Business trip overview.

• The purpose of the trip
• Travel destination
• Duration of the trip
• Participating employees

Trip itinerary

Meetings, events, and activities, expense report, attachments and documents.

• Invoices and receipts: all the proof of each one of the expenses made
• Other relevant documents: contracts, certificates, and declarations that were produced during the business trip

Additional comments

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What Is A Business Trip Report And How To Prepare One?

Home » B2B » What Is A Business Trip Report And How To Prepare One?

Business trip report is a post-trip activity essential to know the outcome of the business trip vis-à-vis its objectives. Employees can use the trip report to highlight their achievements and enhance their reputation in the eyes of the management. Additionally, the report will help the management to analyze the outcome of the business trip. Let us discuss the tips for writing a business trip report.

What is a Business Trip (or Business Travel) Report?

A business trip report, or a business travel report, summarizes the business trip to justify travel expenses. It reviews activities to fulfill pre-defined business objectives, such as finalizing a business deal, providing technical service to a customer, or representing the organization at a trade fair.

• Travel managers can review business reports based on the following criteria:
• Improving networking and customer relationships
• Fulfillment of the training objectives, such as deals, services, certifications, etc.
• Identifying and attracting prospects for new business opportunities
• Knowing new business trends
• Attending company conferences or review meetings
• Imparting training to business associates
• Providing customer business travel support
• Assessing the competition

Business travel reporting activity helps understand to what extent the employee met the trip objectives. It enables travel managers to change policies and improve the efficiency of the future business trips.

Suggested Read: All You Need To Know About Corporate Travel Management

Importance of a corporate trip report

A corporate trip report is necessary to justify the cost of business travel. It is a critical summary to enable reporting, auditing, and business travel budgeting. Business trip reporting helps travel managers monitor, track, and control travel costs. They can leverage the knowledge to enhance the effectiveness of future business trips.

An ideal trip report provides a detailed review of the particular business travel report and is a vital instrument for understanding the justification of the trip expenses. The business trip report comprises many details, such as graphs, tables, photographs, and other documents supporting the claim by justifying the travel expenditure.

How to write a business report?

1. Preparations

Preparations for writing a comprehensive business trip report begin before proceeding on a business trip. You should note down the core corporate of the business trip you expect to meet. The entire trip itinerary will focus on accomplishing this goal. The measure of the trip’s success will depend upon the details and supportive documents you provide while submitting the trip report. Continue noting down all details about your achievements as your business trip progresses. Collecting bills or receipts is an essential prerequisite to facilitate expense reporting. Platforms like Paxes can help you with planning, booking, and producing the necessary travel data and invoices needed to back your report. Remember to get snaps and video clips of important events besides documentary evidence of your achievements, like feedback forms to justify your accomplishments.

2. Headings and essential details

The heading section should provide a quick introduction to the trip report with the total cost of the business trip. Mention the core purpose in the first section of a business trip report. Include the cities and places you covered with dates. Write down the names of colleagues if they accompanied you on the trip. List the names of prospects, customers, and business associates you met on the business trip.

3. Introduction of the report

A general overview of the business trip is an essential feature of the introduction. Let the introduction outline the goal and the results of the business trip. Mention the places you covered and the people you met with the outcome. One should briefly describe the activities such as attending the exhibition stall, highlighting product benefits, meeting prospects, or attending seminars. Focus on how you accomplished the trip’s aim without providing data or supportive documents.

4. Business trip report’s body

The main section of the business report is the body. You should provide details of the activities that helped you meet your business objectives. By providing reasons, you should also reveal the goals you missed to achieve. One should add any other achievements, not part of the trip’s original objectives, in the body. You should explain how the achievement can benefit the organization.

5. Summary of the report

The summary justifies the consumption of resources to cover the trip. Share your observations by mentioning how the business trip can help the organization win more customers, increase sales revenues, or improve the company’s brand awareness. The summary should focus on the expected rise in the business to help travel managers know the ROI from the business trip. The report should include attachments like data, snaps, and customer feedback reports that will help support your accomplishments.

Business trip report template

Here is a simple template for you to get started with your business trip report:

Trip information

Trip itinerary: Insert summary of trip itinerary

Purpose of trip: Define the purpose of the trip with a clear objective

Activities and meetings conducted: Write about the activities and meetings conducted

Site visits and events attended: Write details of site visits and events attended

Key accomplishments: Summary of key achievements during trip

Business opportunities: New opportunities found during the trip

Challenges encountered

Logistics issues: Were there any issues with the transportation

Communication issues: Any language barrier encountered

Other issues: Other issues occurred during the trip

Expenses incurred

Travel and accommodation expenses: Enter airfare, transfers, mileage, hotel rooms charges

Meal and other expenses: Meal expenses, stationary costs and others

Recommendations for future trips

Improvements: Tips on how to get better results

[End of Business Trip Report Template]

Organizations use the business trip report to know the return on travel costs. Business travel reporting is the art of presenting your achievements systematically. Providing details and supporting these with data or documents is the key to writing a perfect business report. The business report should be crisp and clear, presenting the trip’s purpose, activities, learnings, and recommendations.

Travel and expense management platforms such as Paxes offer easy and quick booking of flights and hotels. Additionally, the expenditure data provided in these platforms can help one in preparing a comprehensive business trip report.

Business Trip Report FAQs

Who should receive the corporate trip report of the employee.

Employees submit a corporate trip report to line managers, or corporate travel managers, depending upon the corporate policy.

What is excluded from a business trip report?

The business trip report should not include personal experiences, like visiting a tourist spot, having dinner with colleagues, or detailed notes. Avoid lengthy descriptions of the event or venue.

Is there a standard format for writing a corporate trip report?

The ideal format is the headline, introduction, body, and summary. However, some organizations expect employees to write a corporate trip report in a particular fashion.

Is the expense report part of the corporate trip report?

Many organizations mandate attaching expense reports to the business trip report. In such cases, one can add receipts and bills to the expense report.

What is the focus of a corporate trip report?

A corporate trip report aims to explain how the investment in the business trip will benefit the organization.

What should be included in a business trip report?

A business trip report should consist of trip details, itinerary, expenses, results, challenges, and recommendations.

What is called as trip report?

A document detailing the various aspects of a business trip for analysis and betterment of next trips is called business trip report.

What is an example of a business trip?

Sales trips, brand awareness trips, VIP trips are some of the examples of business trips.

What is the purpose of business trip report?

A business trip report is used to highlight the key findings of the trip and analyze the same to better the following trips.

How do I create an effective business trip report?

What information should be included in a business trip report.

Pratyush is a traveling enthusiast who always looks for innovations in business travel management. He has 5 years of experience writing content on corporate travel management and working closely with expert business travel facilitators.

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What should a business travel report include? self.__wrap_b=(t,n,e)=>{e=e||document.querySelector(`[data-br="${t}"]`);let s=e.parentElement,r=R=>e.style.maxWidth=R+"px";e.style.maxWidth="";let o=s.clientWidth,i=s.clientHeight,c=o/2-.25,l=o+.5,u;if(o){for(;c+1 {self.__wrap_b(0,+e.dataset.brr,e)})).observe(s)};self.__wrap_b(":R15ajm:",1)

Your business trip is over, and now it’s time to draft up a travel report. Why does your manager ask for a business trip report? And what should a good report include? Scroll down to learn everything you need to know about how to write a travel report.

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A business trip report, or business travel report , is a document about a business trip, usually written for a manager. It’s like a memo of the trip, its purpose, learnings, and outcomes.

The meaning of a business trip report is to give an overview of the trip and justify the expenses. 

With a travel report, you tell your manager (or other relevant people in the company) what your trip was about: purpose, goals, achievements, learnings, and recommendations. The purpose of a business trip can be, for example, to solidify business partnerships, prospect for new clients, or learn about the latest industry trends.

A business trip report also justifies the investment the company makes. If your employer sends you on a business trip and pays for the costs, how will it benefit from your travel? 

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There isn’t one set format for a travel report. You can check if your company has a template for reporting business trips or if there are some conventions or requirements the report should follow. If not, you can find a simple business trip report template in this article. 

Unless you work in a traditional industry, a travel report doesn’t have to be too formal. Your manager probably doesn't want to scan through a 20-page report. 

It’s okay to keep the report brief and concise. You can skip the table of contents and executive summary and focus on the goals, outcomes, and learnings of the trip – the part that matters the most. 

A simple outline for a business trip report  self.__wrap_b=(t,n,e)=>{e=e||document.querySelector(`[data-br="${t}"]`);let s=e.parentElement,r=R=>e.style.maxWidth=R+"px";e.style.maxWidth="";let o=s.clientWidth,i=s.clientHeight,c=o/2-.25,l=o+.5,u;if(o){for(;c+1 {self.__wrap_b(0,+e.dataset.brr,e)})).observe(s)};self.__wrap_b(":Rktajm:",1)

If you want to keep your travel report short and sweet, you can follow this simple structure. 

Basics : Your name, participants (your colleagues), travel period, and destination.

Purpose of trip : Why did you go on this trip? What were the goals? 

Overview : What events did you attend? Who did you meet? What learnings did you gain? 

Summary and Conclusions : A brief summary of the trip and recommendations or action points.

Expenses : You can list your expenses here or deliver your expense claim separately. 

Attachments : If you claim expenses, attach receipts and invoices as proof of travel costs.

Claim travel expenses with an expense report self.__wrap_b=(t,n,e)=>{e=e||document.querySelector(`[data-br="${t}"]`);let s=e.parentElement,r=R=>e.style.maxWidth=R+"px";e.style.maxWidth="";let o=s.clientWidth,i=s.clientHeight,c=o/2-.25,l=o+.5,u;if(o){for(;c+1 {self.__wrap_b(0,+e.dataset.brr,e)})).observe(s)};self.__wrap_b(":Rqtajm:",1)

If you’ve paid travel expenses from your own pocket, you can claim expense reimbursement from your employer. Depending on your company’s conventions, you can either attach the expense claim to the report or deliver it separately. 

More and more companies use digital tools to manage travel expenses, which means that you don’t need to claim back travel costs with a paper document (and not even with a PDF). For example, Pliant features an integration to Circula , a software designed to streamline and automate claiming and managing travel costs and allowances.

Use a business travel report template  self.__wrap_b=(t,n,e)=>{e=e||document.querySelector(`[data-br="${t}"]`);let s=e.parentElement,r=R=>e.style.maxWidth=R+"px";e.style.maxWidth="";let o=s.clientWidth,i=s.clientHeight,c=o/2-.25,l=o+.5,u;if(o){for(;c+1 {self.__wrap_b(0,+e.dataset.brr,e)})).observe(s)};self.__wrap_b(":R10tajm:",1)

If your company doesn’t have a fixed structure for a business travel report and you’re not sure how to go about it, here’s a template to help you get started. 

You can use this template to summarize your trip and its expenses in a simple and easy-to-skim format. 

Bear in mind that this isn’t an official travel report template – if there is such a thing. Feel free to edit and customize it for your needs. You can skip or add sections that you see useful. If you want to highlight something particular, add new sections, like Goals or Learnings. 

How to write a travel report?  self.__wrap_b=(t,n,e)=>{e=e||document.querySelector(`[data-br="${t}"]`);let s=e.parentElement,r=R=>e.style.maxWidth=R+"px";e.style.maxWidth="";let o=s.clientWidth,i=s.clientHeight,c=o/2-.25,l=o+.5,u;if(o){for(;c+1 {self.__wrap_b(0,+e.dataset.brr,e)})).observe(s)};self.__wrap_b(":R18tajm:",1)

Following the structure of the template above, here’s how you write a travel report. 

Start with the basics self.__wrap_b=(t,n,e)=>{e=e||document.querySelector(`[data-br="${t}"]`);let s=e.parentElement,r=R=>e.style.maxWidth=R+"px";e.style.maxWidth="";let o=s.clientWidth,i=s.clientHeight,c=o/2-.25,l=o+.5,u;if(o){for(;c+1 {self.__wrap_b(0,+e.dataset.brr,e)})).observe(s)};self.__wrap_b(":R1ctajm:",1)

First things first. In addition to your own name, mention any colleagues that were with you on the trip. Include the travel period and destination.

Focus on the benefits for the company  self.__wrap_b=(t,n,e)=>{e=e||document.querySelector(`[data-br="${t}"]`);let s=e.parentElement,r=R=>e.style.maxWidth=R+"px";e.style.maxWidth="";let o=s.clientWidth,i=s.clientHeight,c=o/2-.25,l=o+.5,u;if(o){for(;c+1 {self.__wrap_b(0,+e.dataset.brr,e)})).observe(s)};self.__wrap_b(":R1gtajm:",1)

The body is the most important part of your report. You can use a structure that works best for you, but if you’re not sure what to include, here are some ideas.

You can start with the purpose . Why did you go on this trip? What were the goals? This could be, for example, to keep up with the industry trends at a conference. 

Provide an overview of the trip. Who did you meet? What events did you attend? What did you learn? This is your chance to shine. Stress how the trip was beneficial for the company. Not only did you pick up new skills at a seminar, but now you can put them to use in your work for the company. You’ll want to show how sending you on this trip was a good investment. 

Close with a summary and conclusions . Write a summary and revisit the key points, like your learnings, how the goals were met (or why they weren’t), and recommendations and an action plan for the next steps.

Attach a cost summary and receipts (if necessary) self.__wrap_b=(t,n,e)=>{e=e||document.querySelector(`[data-br="${t}"]`);let s=e.parentElement,r=R=>e.style.maxWidth=R+"px";e.style.maxWidth="";let o=s.clientWidth,i=s.clientHeight,c=o/2-.25,l=o+.5,u;if(o){for(;c+1 {self.__wrap_b(0,+e.dataset.brr,e)})).observe(s)};self.__wrap_b(":R1qtajm:",1)

Depending on your company’s travel expense policy, you can attach a cost summary of your reimbursable expenses and relevant attachments to the travel report. Attachments include receipts and invoices as proof of incurred expenses during the trip.

If you deliver an expense claim with an app or in another way established in your workplace, you don’t have to include it in the travel report.  

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There are many types of business travel, ranging from conferences to trade shows to visiting international branches of the same company. 

What qualifies as business travel in the eyes of the tax office varies from country to country. But usually, there’s some kind of requirement for temporary travel for work purposes.

Examples of business travel include:

Conferences and seminars

Trade shows and fairs

Travel to meet business partners, like suppliers or clients

Internal visits and meetings at different locations  

Company retreats and events

Not every type of business travel requires a travel report. If you’re traveling to a company retreat or summer party to unwind and bond with your colleagues, you can skip the report. 

When does a business trip require a travel report? self.__wrap_b=(t,n,e)=>{e=e||document.querySelector(`[data-br="${t}"]`);let s=e.parentElement,r=R=>e.style.maxWidth=R+"px";e.style.maxWidth="";let o=s.clientWidth,i=s.clientHeight,c=o/2-.25,l=o+.5,u;if(o){for(;c+1 {self.__wrap_b(0,+e.dataset.brr,e)})).observe(s)};self.__wrap_b(":R2ctajm:",1)

Whether a business trip report is required depends on the organization and its travel policy. A travel report isn’t always necessary, so it’s best to ask your manager. 

But if you claim reimbursement for business-related travel expenses, you do need to submit an expense report and receipts. This is usually required by the tax office to provide a clear audit trail of why your employer is making a (tax-exempt) payment to you. But this doesn’t mean you have to write a report on the whole trip. 

Depending on the policy of your company, you might either submit an expense claim with an app or software or in another fashion that is established in your organization. 

In summary self.__wrap_b=(t,n,e)=>{e=e||document.querySelector(`[data-br="${t}"]`);let s=e.parentElement,r=R=>e.style.maxWidth=R+"px";e.style.maxWidth="";let o=s.clientWidth,i=s.clientHeight,c=o/2-.25,l=o+.5,u;if(o){for(;c+1 {self.__wrap_b(0,+e.dataset.brr,e)})).observe(s)};self.__wrap_b(":R2ktajm:",1)

Business travel report policies vary from company to company. While a travel expense claim may be required by the tax office, a business trip report is usually just used for internal purposes. 

In some companies or industries, lengthy reports may be the norm. But just the same, there may not be a culture of writing travel reports at all. When in doubt, ask your manager.

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Business Trip Report

Making sure that your actions on behalf of the company has its own paper trail is beneficial for numerous reasons. Documentation is one such reason, as is the reaching of certain conclusions. After all, if you had to go on a trip, wouldn’t you want to inform your superiors about its details as much as you can? Well, this is where business trip reports come into play. If you want to learn more about this, or find the best business report sample for you, feel free to scroll on.

Business Trip Report Template

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Business Trip Report Printable Template

What Is a Business Trip Report?

A business trip report is a written document prepared by business travellers as an account of their most recent trip. The purpose of a business trip report is to document contacts made and lessons learned by the attendee during the business trip. It provides the company with a summary of the overall observations and conclusions. Browsing through the business trip report examples from our list above should give you a better idea of what’s included, along with the business trip report format.

Tips on How to Write a Report

After reading the previous post, you may now be asking yourself, ‘how do I write a business trip report?’ The easy way would be to get yourself a free business trip report template . Any one of our samples, including the business trip report Excel template and the business trip report PDF template would do. However, if you really want to start from scratch, then the following tips will be just as helpful:

1. Define Your Purpose

Knowing the purpose of business trip report making will help you out tremendously. Take note that there are five basic questions of investigative writing: who, what, where, when, and how. Keep your purpose in mind as you explore these basic questions; doing so will keep you on the right track.

2. Be Professional With Your Language

For business reports, getting right to the point is imperative. But never lose your professional tone either. Be clear, concise, and formal. Don’t stray from your report’s main point and don’t use unnecessary language or jargon. Use simple but engaging  general statements  by using active sentences.

3. Organize Your Ideas

You must be able to efficiently express your thoughts in a logical progression to make it more comprehensible. Remember that the devil is in the details and the easier they are to grasp, the more effective your readers will find your report. You can start by creating a  report outline for yourself, and then use this as a guide for the actual content.

4. Do Not Neglect Proofreading

Once you have successfully written the things you want to say, edit and proofread your work. Chances are, a small part of your writing may be composed of details that are unnecessary to the simple report . Cut out those parts, reread your content, and then do it all over again until you are satisfied with the finished product.

What are the details to include in a business trip report?

Among the details that one must always include in a business trip report are the following: the name of the business trip, its participants, the trip’s duration, its overall purpose, its highlights, your follow-up actions, and any additional comments.

What are the advantages of business trips?

First of all, business trips help improve the relationship with existing customers. It can also attract new ones and help evaluate competitors. Lastly, they provide opportunities to learn about new market trends and opportunities.

What are the different types of business reports?

First, you have informational reports, which business trip reports can fall into. Then there are the analytical reports , research reports, explanatory reports, and progress reports .

With the importance of business trip reports and all other vital information out of the way, you’re now in a better position to do right by your company . You can either download any one of our business trip report templates or you can create your own from scratch. It’s up to you, so make sure you take what you’ve gained from this article and put it all to good use today!

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How to Write a Business Trip Report

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When writing a report about your business trip, stress how it was a good investment for the company to send you. This will help convince managers that future trips also will be money well spent. Creating a report on your trip to a seminar, conference or trade show should focus on showing a return on the company’s investment.

Format of a Trip Report

Unless you are writing a long, formal report, skip the cover and contents pages and executive summary. Use a memo format if the document will only be a few pages long, and use a heading that lists the date, topic of the report, your name and who’s receiving it. Use section heads to organize the report, such as Trip Purpose, Overview, Benefits, Cost and Summary.

Introduction and Overview

Start the report with an overview that states facts but does not provide support or detail. Let the reader know what the trip was, why you were sent and the expected results. For example, you might write that you went to a trade show in California to meet with important clients, prospect new ones and check out the competition. You might write that you attended a business workshop to learn new human resources practices to help you recruit better employees, reduce turnover and develop a better benefits package.

The Body of the Report

Describe what happened at the event in terms of how or if you met your goals for going there. Don’t be afraid to tell your supervisor any expectations that fell short -- if you don’t, and he asks later, you might look like you purposely left this information out of the report. For example, if you went to a trade show and weren’t able to meet any promising new clients, you might have solidified relationships with longtime customers and learned new information about competitors, which could lead to more business or better product ideas.

Give specific examples of events relevant to your goals or anything that happened that will benefit your company. Rather than listing personal benefits you got from the trip, such as improving your knowledge of a specific software, discuss how those benefits will help the company -- for example by decreasing the company’s need to hire outside vendors now that you have this skill.

Summarize the Highlights of the Trip

Use the summary to recap the highlights of the trip, including your expected benefits, whether or not you attained them or any others, the total cost for the trip, any expected financial benefit to the company and your recommendation for the future. The more specific you can be about the benefits of your trip, the easier it is for your superiors to calculate a return on their investment.

Attach Your Expense Report

Consider attaching your expense report to the document, rather than listing the details in the document. Include the total cost of the trip in your document, but save details, such as airfare, lodging, meals, tips, parking and other travel costs for the expense report.

• Let’s Fly Cheaper: Tips for Writing a Business Report
• Top Travel Tips: Business Trip Report Template

Sam Ashe-Edmunds has been writing and lecturing for decades. He has worked in the corporate and nonprofit arenas as a C-Suite executive, serving on several nonprofit boards. He is an internationally traveled sport science writer and lecturer. He has been published in print publications such as Entrepreneur, Tennis, SI for Kids, Chicago Tribune, Sacramento Bee, and on websites such Smart-Healthy-Living.net, SmartyCents and Youthletic. Edmunds has a bachelor's degree in journalism.

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Must-Have Business Trip Report Templates with Examples and Samples

Mayuri Gangwal

In the capacity of a seasoned travel professional, you are well acquainted with the intricate and time-intensive nature of trip planning. In your pursuit of enhanced efficiency and time management, you seek tools or templates to streamline your responsibilities. Notably, these resources should cater to the needs of travel agents, camping facilities, vacation planners, and insurance entities while encompassing all pivotal functionalities.

On this note, here comes our business trip itinerary to teleport your presentation to new dimensions. Our Travel Itinerary Template sets you up for success by covering all essential aspects of your trip. These templates ensure you get everything from detailed employee information to travel reservations and destination details.  

Best Business Trip Report Templates

SlideTeam’s Business trip report templates provide a standardized format to record each trip detail. This saves you plenty of time as you don't have to start from scratch. It also allows you to concentrate on the critical data while making it easier to compare information. 

Our professionally designed templates give your reports a professional appearance. This is particularly important for business trips where you must share the info with stakeholders and clients.  

By maintaining a repository of the trip report, businesses can draw more insights and lessons from past experiences. Thus, professional trip report templates offer numerous benefits to the organization. It not only saves time but also empowers businesses to make better decisions. 

Let's explore more about our templates and find out how they can help you get organized. 

Template 1: Business Trip Itinerary Report 

This all-inclusive gem is your ticket to flawlessly organizing and documenting crucial business trip details . It manages your travel information and makes it convenient and accessible to extract the desired information at the correct time. 

Furthermore, it has a dedicated section for organizing your departure details like date, airline confirmation number, time, and location, which ensures that you always pay attention to essential trip details.

This template presents accommodation details, conference reservations, meeting events, and other vital trip-related information so that employees and participants can stay informed and fully prepared for every engagement during their travels.

Adaptability is the heart of our template. It allows you to customize it to meet your requirements and preferences. Add, remove, or adjust elements and data fields to cater to your unique business scenarios.

The templates redefine efficiency, user-friendliness, and how you organize and present crucial business activity details. Its appeal extends to various travel-related industries, making it an essential professional asset.

Download Now

Template 2: Bi-Fold Business Trip Itinerary Report Template  

Our Bi-Fold business travel itinerary template grants you an expensive canvas to showcase your story convincingly. 

It is a concise 4-page document that empowers effective communication of vital information and telling your business narrative in a contemporary and inspirational manner. It is ideal for crafting communication collateral for any product or service; it offers the flexibility to be shared across various platforms. Initiate your projects with ease and turn them into valuable marketing assets. Organizations can use these templates for handouts, takeaways, and presentations.

 Organizations can infuse their brand's colors, logos, and unique elements, tailoring it to their needs and preferences. This template provides ample space to include all relevant data while maintaining its aesthetics looks, from travel itineraries to research plans or reporting on business activity details . 

Its adaptability, user-friendly interface, and sleek design make it an essential asset for effectively sharing vital information in a captivating and concise manner. Its futuristic design is a perfect blend of modernization and inspirational masterpiece. This helps in elevating your business stories to new heights. Download now and prepare to reshape how your brand communicates with its audience. We also have travel proposal templates to cater to all your travel needs. 

These professionally designed templates provide a competitive edge for businesses. It helps them to create impactful and visually appealing communication collateral. They are essential for companies looking to improve communication and streamline processes.

These templates save valuable time and give businesses the confidence to document their travel experiences. Employees can share valuable insights within the organization.  The consistency and coherence offered by these business templates ensure the organization's brand identity remains strong.

You can share them across multiple platforms to reach a wider audience. Embrace the convenience and professionalism these templates bring to your business trip reports. These valuable resources simplify how you create and share your business trip reports with confidence and ease. 

Step into a world of efficient reporting and make your business trips remarkable. Get started now and craft compelling business trip reports that leave a lasting impact on your audience. Happy reporting

FAQs on Business Trip Report

How do i write a business trip report.

To craft a business trip report:

• Start with a concise introduction that outlines the purpose of the trip.
• Furnished comprehensive information regarding the trip's goals, undertaken activities, and attended meetings.
• Utilize clear and specific language to elucidate the outcomes and accomplishments achieved during the journey.

Consider including a breakdown of incurred expenses; attach receipts for verification. Conclude the report with a summary of key takeaways and any recommendations for improvement.

Ensure your business travel report is logically organized and follows a professional format. Following these instructions will make your report informative, well-organized, and easily understandable for you and your organization. Moreover, it will serve as a valuable point of reference for upcoming decisions regarding business travel.

What is the purpose of a business travel report?

Business trip reports have a singular aim: to produce comprehensive and meticulous documentation of a business-related excursion. They hold significant value as they record the trip, encompassing all activities, results, and expenditures.

This report is essential for both the traveler and the organization as it documents crucial information, including meeting details, business achievements, challenges encountered, and potential opportunities identified during the trip.

Beyond serving as a historical record, the report critically analyzes the trip's effectiveness. It helps assess the achieved objectives, measure the ROI, and identify areas for improvement. Moreover, the report facilitates decision-making for future business travel by providing valuable insights and recommendations based on the trip's experiences.

By creating a comprehensive business trip report, professionals can better understand the impact of their journey, make informed decisions, and optimize their future travel endeavors for the success of both themselves and their organizations.

What are the elements of a business trip report?

A business trip report typically includes the following key elements:

• Introduction: Briefly state the purpose and objectives of the trip.
• Trip Details: Include the traveler's name, dates, destinations, and arrangements.
• Meeting Summaries: Provide a comprehensive account of the meetings attended and their outcomes.
• Expense Breakdown : List all incurred expenses, such as transportation, accommodation, meals, and other relevant costs.
• Challenges Faced : Mention any difficulties encountered during the trip and how they were addressed.
• Recommendations : Suggest improvements based on the trip's experiences and outcomes.

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FREE 10+ Business Travel Report Samples [ Market, Industry, Trip ]

10+ Business Travel Report Samples

Going off somewhere for work purposes? Sometimes one of the things included in your job descriptions is to travel . The need for business travels is steadily growing because of globalization and the competitive market. Business travel, often known as corporate travel, refers to travel undertaken on behalf of a company or for the purpose of conducting business with another company. With the advent of technology, one would think that business travels might decline because there are so many digital platforms to conduct online conference calls and meetings . However, one cannot erase the importance of business travels altogether because when it comes to closing business transactions and making significant choices, face-to-face meetings are crucial. If you are planning to go somewhere for business, this article is for you. We provide free, ready-made, and editable samples of Business Travel Reports that you could use for your presentation with your colleagues following the success of your business trip. Keep on reading to find out more!

Business Travel Report

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11.  School Business Travel Report

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The personal encounter that sets good foundations for a future or present partnerships is one of the key reasons why business travel is crucial. This can also help to reduce misunderstandings and foster a sense of oneness; having a physical encounter focused on the same issue is far more beneficial in terms of understanding each other’s communication abilities. You rapidly extend your possibilities and uncover various channels of possibilities by moving out of your own workplace environment.

A business travel report is a document that describes the backdrop, observations, and conclusions of a trip or excursion. Employees are frequently asked to submit travel reports in order to share the knowledge and expertise they have obtained as a result of their travels. It can be a tool for showcasing your hard work and demonstrating how valuable you are to the company where you work. It is one of the simplest and most common ways for a firm to keep track of its business trip data, expenses, duties, and awards It’s especially significant in large firms with a large number of employees to track, and it might be critical in small businesses that want to ensure that the money spent on expensive travels is well spent.

As part of the trip report, you must note down everything that is required; each company will have different requirements. In general, keep track of all spending, including the unexpected. Even if everything is done with the company credit card, this should be done. You could keep track of your expenses with our free expense tracker template here. You should also keep track of the time time you spent spent working such as business meetings or lunches, the time you spent traveling, and any other business-related activities you did along the way.

After taking note of what to write down for your travel report, you are now ready to make your business travel report! Aside from the variety of Business Travel Report templates that is provided above, you can also make one of your own from scratch. If you’re interested in making one, here are some general steps that could guide you:

For your business trip report, you’ll need a decent heading. Travel reports can be written in a variety of styles, like a memo or letter format. Make a list of the names of any clients or partners you met on your trip. Make a list of the trip’s exact dates. Include the date on which you are writing the report as well. Include a specific purpose or goal in the heading if the trip has one, such as landing a significant customer or attending a specific conference.

Write your travel report’s “Introduction” section. The context of the journey is described in the opening of a typical travel report, as well as information about the people and locations you visited. This component of the report should account for around a quarter of the total length.

After that, include a summary that talks through your journey in further detail. Write a summary of the most important items you did for the company throughout the trip. Also, make a list of your wins and losses. Then, throughout the trip, you should remember to include an itemized account of expenses and gains.

After you’ve listed your expenses, develop a bulleted list of all the reasons the trip was successful and necessary. Although the written summary is helpful, the busy executives will need an orderly approach to process the report in order to help with future business travels. The conclusion should not only tie up your report, but also clarify what you learnt or acquired from your travels to the reader. Make sure to explain how you accomplished the goal you stated in the introduction. Any advice you have as a result of your trip should be included in the final section of the conclusion.

A travel report’s objective is to justify the trip’s purpose and the money you spent on it. Trip reports must be precise and provide a detailed overview of the trip because they serve as verification of spending.

The ability to inspire others to have faith in you and your firm, as well as the ability to encourage others, even if you lack authority, are two crucial components of leadership. You must be visible to both your coworkers and your clients in order to do this. Taking the effort to go and meet with them face to face might show them that you care about their achievement.

According to studies, business travelers spend up to four times more than other categories of tourists throughout their vacation. As a result, business tourism contributes significantly to the local and worldwide economies.

All in all, business trips is still the most effective strategy to build strong relationships and pursue new business prospects. Download our free, editable, and printable Business Travel Report samples for your firm’s competitive advantage in the market. Check out our samples for your future business trip itinerary .

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62+ SAMPLE Trip Report Templates in PDF | MS Word | Google Docs | Apple Pages

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Trip reports: why are they beneficial, to whom do you send trip reports, step 1: always carry a small notebook, step 2: decide the report mode, step 3: slowly insert the crucial elements, step 4: clean your report, step 5: end by validating the report.

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Effortless Business Travel Expense Reporting: A Step-by-Step Template

Looking to overhaul your business expense template or standardizing one for the first time? This post explains business and travel expense tracking and provides a starter business travel expense report template.

>> Related: 10 Shifts In Business Travel Expenses <<

First, what is a business expense report?

Expense reports record costs incurred by employees. It may sound trivial, but expense data empowers employers to minimize fraud, track spending patterns, identify cost savings, create realistic budgets, comply with regulations, and reconcile payments with vendors or credit card companies. Expense reports are most common for travel, where employees itemize money spent on transportation, lodging, meals, and incidentals. But as more employees work from home, business expense reports also record small, recurring service and supply costs, such as fast WIFI.

Key Elements of a Business Expense Report Template

When creating an expense report template, include:

• A detailed table of expenses
• Photos of receipts
• Common cost limits, such as per diems, mileage reimbursement, or maximum cost per meal.
• Expense policies, including how soon employees must file reports, and when they can expect reimbursement.

Steps for Creating a Template

If you’re creating a manual template, we recommend creating it on the cloud (i.e. Google Sheets or Microsoft 365) so it can easily be cloned and submitted by employees.

• In the first tab, explain your expense policies, expectations, how to submit the report, and how to escalate questions. You want anyone new to expensing (or the company) to clearly understand what is reimbursable.
• On the second tab, include a detailed table for expense tracking, including dates, itemized costs, and vendor/location details. If employees are incurring expenses on behalf of a customer or client, ensure they can track which costs are billable and to which account.
• On the third tab, create a “whiteboard” for employees to add photos of their itemized receipts .

Common Business and Travel Expenses

Airfare is one of the top expenses of a trip and booked far in advance. Define if employees should seek reimbursement after buying the ticket or after taking the flight. If the latter, employees may be financially strained if they use personal cards. Airfare has many incidental costs. Articulate clear policies for:

• TSA PreCheck or Global Entry – while they cost ~$100, they’re far cheaper than rebooking a missed flight
• Checked baggage
• Seat upgrades so that staff can pre-select seats or get a few extra inches of legroom
• Visas and passports for international travel

>> Related:   The Most Common Challenges of T&E Management <<

Accommodation

Lodging is another top expense, with nightly rates and lodging fees adding up quickly. Accommodation covers hotel rooms and taxes, or short term rentals (i.e. Airbnb). Depending on the length of stay and your policies, it may also include laundry services or a gym membership.

Transportation and Mileage

Transportation expenses include rental cars, taxis, subway fares, or any other fees associated with getting around during the business trip. It also includes mileage reimbursements. Every year the IRS studies the costs of operating an automobile, including “the cost of gas, oil, tires, maintenance and repairs, as well as the fixed costs of operating the vehicle, such as insurance, registration and depreciation or lease payments.” In 2024, the IRS increased the Standard Mileage Rates to $0.67 per mile for business purposes. An employee who drives 200 miles to a business trip (and back) would be reimbursed $268, plus tolls and parking. Sometimes flights or trains are cheaper, so articulate an exact policy.

Many companies have a per diem allowance for un-billable meals during business trips. Many also create policies that prohibit expensing un-billable alcohol or entertainment . If employees are lodging at a short-term rental, expect them to expense groceries.

Software, Supplies, and Services

Remote expenses go beyond laptops and can include printers, monitors, basic office supplies, and headsets. Additionally, many organizations also offer a monthly stipend for internet and telecom bills, or the occasional coffee. Remote teams are also more likely to DIY software procurement, especially if the monthly costs are low.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Manual Expense Reporting

If manually managing all of this sounds like… a lot, you’re not wrong. But manually creating and processing expense reports is familiar and it won’t be difficult to train employees to fill out a simple spreadsheet. It also bears no software costs – but beware thinking that manual = free . Research consistently shows manual expense reports cost $26 in person-power per report.

>> Related: 7 Tips to Avoid Finance Report Errors <<

Disadvantages

Why are manual expenses so pricey? Because they’re time consuming. Employees manually gather receipts and hand-enter details into spreadsheets. To many employees, it’s a dreadful task that snowballs the more they avoid it. Similarly, manually checking spreadsheets against photos of receipts is error-prone. Small discrepancies in the data have to be hand-researched by accounting. A  study from GBTA several years ago found that companies spend more than 3,000 hours correcting expense report errors annually. Manual reports also rely on the honesty of the employee reporting the expenses, plus the attention-to-detail of approvers. They’re simply more susceptible to fraud or negligence.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Digital Travel Expense Reporting

Travel expense software offers numerous advantages over traditional spreadsheet-based methods. For starters, it streamlines workflows and reduces time spent collecting, reviewing and approving reimbursement requests. They’re also far more accurate and can automatically categorize entries or capture values from receipts. And most integrate directly with general ledgers in Quickbooks, Bill.com, Xero, or Netsuite. Accounting can tabulate most expenses automatically, without scrutinizing every receipt or hand entering sub-totals.

Digital travel expense reporting does have a few drawbacks that should be considered. There are costs associated with purchasing and implementing the software or services necessary for digital reporting, as well as ongoing maintenance and support fees. Minimize costs by opting for software that tackles multiple components of your T&E program, such as digitizing expense reporting, streamlining trip bookings, and automating reimbursements. There is change management and training to consider. It is a new tool for a tool-weary workforce.

Tips for Training Employees to Track and Report Expenses

Expense report compliance is an evergreen concern for finance teams. To boost compliance:

• Record a short screen-share tutorial of creating and submitted an expense report. Link this everywhere , including within the template itself.
• Train supervisors first, so they can answer questions fluently.
• Then offer department-wide trainings to review policy changes. Offer context for why policies are so firm.  Include tips from your company’s road warriors.
• Communicate an initial grace period as employees adapt to the new process. Be sure to cushion deadlines by a few days, so that stragglers can be chased down before threatening corporate policy.
• Create and communicate “office hours” where accounting is available to answer private questions (either in person, via email, or via chat software).
• Explicitly onboard new employees to the expense policies, timelines, and template.
• If you opted for a software solution, ask how they can help with implementation by providing things like communication templates or training sessions

>> Download TravelBank’s Travel Policy template <<

How do you write a travel expense report? 

Writing a travel expense report is relatively straightforward, but it does require some organization and attention to detail. The first step is to compile all your receipts for the trip or month. These should include any transportation costs (including mileage reimbursement), lodging, meals, and other miscellaneous expenses. Once you have your itemized list of expenses compiled, add them in detail to your spreadsheet including date of purchase or service rendered, amount spent and details of what was purchased, or who provided the service. Include all applicable taxes as well as tips when applicable. If submitting electronically, save the document with an appropriate title such as “Travel Expense Report” followed by the date.

What is a sample of business expenses?  

Business expenses include costs incurred while traveling for work. Examples of common travel expenses include hotel and lodging costs, laundry services, airfare and its fees, car rentals, taxis, subways, meals, or mileage. As more employees work from home, remote expense policies vary widely but often cover Internet service and AV equipment.

What should be included in an expense report? 

An expense report should include all costs incurred during a period of time. This includes receipts and any other proof of purchase, such as credit card statements or invoices. Additionally, the report should include detailed descriptions of each expense item, including date, purpose, vendor or supplier name, and amount spent. Reports must be submitted in a timely manner with accurate data – inaccurate reports can result in issues with reimbursement or even potential legal action. 

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How to write a travel report.

A travel report is also referred to as a trip report and is used to describe the background, observations, and conclusions related to a trip or excursion you have taken. Many times employers will request that traveling employees write up travel reports to relate the knowledge and experience they have gained as a result of their travels. Using the correct format, style, and tone is necessary to create a travel report that is useful and appropriate.

Create the heading of your document. Travel reports can be written in a variety of formats, such as memo or letter format, but most formats use a common heading. The first line of the heading should contain the date, while the name and title of the addressee should be written on the second line, your name and title on the third line, and the subject of the report on the fourth line.

Write the "Introduction" section of your travel report. The introduction of a typical travel report relates the background of the trip and contains background about the people and places that you have visited. This section of the report should be approximately a quarter of the entire length of the report.

Compose the "Discussion" section of your travel report. This is the main section of your report and the bulk of the length should be here. This section should relate your observations and analysis of the situations and events you encountered during your travels. Common subheadings for this section include "Trends," "Main Issues," and "Ethical Dilemmas."

Write the "Conclusion" section of your travel report. The conclusion should not only wrap up your report, but should also explain to the reader what you learned or gained from your travels. Be sure to explain how you have achieved the purpose that you described in the introduction. The last part of the conclusion should include any recommendations you have as a result of your trip.

Finish your trip report. If your report is in memo format, write your initials next to your name in the heading section. If your report is in letter format, use a closing statement such as "Sincerely" or "Best regards" and sign your name. Many employers also require traveling employees to include a list of travel expenses incurred during your trip. Do not forget to include a reference list or works cited page that notes any sources you have used in writing your report.

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• Writing.org: Travel Writing for Pleasure and Profit
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Alexander Abbott has more than seven years of experience in digital marketing. He has been a featured blogger for several media companies in Los Angeles and brings expertise in emerging technological trends, as well as international politics. Abbott is a graduate of the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California.

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How to Write a Business Report: A Step By Step Guide with Examples

Table of contents

Enjoy reading this blog post written by our experts or partners.

If you want to see what Databox can do for you, click here .

With so much experience under your belt, you already know a lot about business reporting.

So, we don’t want to waste your time pointing out the obvious because we know what you need.

Secrets. Tricks. Best practices.sales rep drilldown business report

The answer to how to write a mind-blowing business report that you don’t need to spend hours and days writing.

A business report that will immediately allow you to identify your strengths and weaknesses.

A report that’ll help you learn more about your business and do more accurate forecasting and planning for the future.

We believe we have just that right here.

With this comprehensive guide, you’ll create effective sales, analytical, and informative business reports (and business dashboards ) that will help you improve your strategies, achieve your goals, and grow your business.

So, let’s dive in.

What Is a Business Report?

Importance of creating business reports, types of business reports, what should be included in a business report, how to write a business report: an 11-step guide.

• Business Report Examples

Although there’s a variety of business reports that differ in many aspects, in short, a business report definition would be the following:

A business report is an informative document that contains important data such as facts, analyses, research findings, and statistics about a business with the goal to make this information accessible to people within a company.

Their main purpose is to facilitate the decision-making process related to the future of the business, as well as to maintain effective communication between people who create the reports and those they report to.

A good business report is concise and well-organized, looks professional, and displays the relevant data you can act on. The point is to reflect upon what you’ve achieved so far (typically, over the past month, quarter or year) and to use the data to create a new strategy or adjust the current one to reach even more business goals.

Business reports should be objective and based on the data. When stating the facts, people rely on numbers rather than giving descriptions. For instance, instead of saying “our conversion rate skyrocketed”, you would display the exact percentages that back up that claim.

Business reporting matters for several reasons, among which the most important ones are:

Recognizing Opportunities to Grow

Detecting issues and solving them quickly, evaluating a potential partner, having a paper trail, keeping things transparent for the stakeholders, setting new company goals.

In fact, over half of the companies that contributed to Databox’s state of business reporting research confirmed that regular monitoring and reporting brought them significant concrete benefits.

If you never look back at what you’ve achieved, you can’t figure out what you’ve done well and what you can leverage in the future for even better results.

When you analyze a specific aspect of your business over a specific time period and present the data you gathered in a report, you can detect an opportunity to grow more easily because you have all the information in one place and organized neatly.

Is it time to introduce new products or services? Is there a way to enhance your marketing strategy? Prepare a report. Can you optimize your finances? Write a financial business report . Whatever decision you need to make, it’s easier when you base it on a report.

Reports are essential for crisis management because they can introduce a sense of calmness into your team. Putting everything on paper makes it easier to encompass all the relevant information and when you know all the facts, you can make a more accurate and effective decision about what to do next.

Writing business reports regularly will also help you identify potential issues or risks and act timely to prevent damage and stop it from escalating. That’s why monthly reporting is better than doing it only once a year.

Having an insight into your finances , operations and other business aspects more regularly allows you to have better control over them and mitigate potential risks more effectively.

Different types of business reports may be accessible to the general public. And if they’re not, specific situations may require a company to send them over to the person requesting them. That may happen if you’re considering a partnership with another company. Before making the final decision, you should learn about their financial health as every partnership poses a certain risk for your finances and/or reputation. Will this decision be profitable?

Having an insight into a company’s business report helps you establish vital business relationships. And it goes the other way around – any potential partner can request that you pull a business report for them to see, so writing business reports can help you prove you’re a suitable business partner.

In business, and especially in large companies, it’s easy to misplace information when it’s communicated verbally. Having a written report about any aspect of your business doesn’t only prevent you from losing important data, but it also helps you keep records so you can return to them at any given moment and use them in the future.

That’s why it’s always good to have a paper trail of anything important you want to share with colleagues, managers, clients, or investors. Nowadays, of course, it doesn’t have to literally be a paper trail, since we keep the data in electronic form.

Writing business reports helps you keep things transparent for the stakeholders, which is the foundation of efficient communication between these two sides.

You typically need to report to different people – sometimes they’re your managers, sometimes they’re a client. But your company’s stakeholders will also require an insight into the performance of your business, and relying on reports will help you maintain favorable business relationships. A business report shows you clearly how your company is performing and there isn’t room for manipulation.

Once you set business goals and the KPIs that help you track your progress towards them, you should remember they’re not set in stone. From time to time, you’ll need to revisit your goals and critical metrics and determine whether they’re still relevant.

When you write a business report and go through it with your team members or managers, you have a chance to do just that and determine if you’re efficient in reaching your goals. Sometimes, new insights will come up while writing these reports and help you identify new objectives that may have emerged.

Depending on your goals and needs, you’ll be writing different types of business reports. Here are five basic types of business reports .

Informational Report

Analytical report, research report, explanatory report, progress report.

Informational reports provide you with strictly objective data without getting into the details, such as explaining why something happened or what the result may be – just pure facts.

An example of this type of business report is a statement where you describe a department within your company: the report contains the list of people working in this department, what their titles are, and what they’re responsible for.

Another example related to a company’s website could look like this Google Analytics website traffic engagement report . As we explained above, this report shows objective data without getting too much into the details, so in this case, just the most important website engagement metrics such as average session duration, bounce rate, sessions, sessions by channel, and so on. Overall, you can use this report to monitor your website traffic, see which keywords are most successful, or how many returning users you have, but without further, in-depth analysis.

Analytical reports help you understand the data you’ve collected and plan for the future based on these insights. You can’t make business decisions based on facts only, so analytical reports are crucial for the decision-making process.

This type of business report is commonly used for sales forecasting. For instance, if you write a report where you identify a drop or an increase in sales, you’ll want to find out why it happened. This HubSpot’s sales analytics report is a good example of what metrics should be included in such a report, like average revenue per new client or average time to close the deal. You can find more web analytics dashboard examples here.

From these business reports, you can find out if you will reach your goals by implementing your current strategy or if you need to make adjustments.

Research is critical when you’re about to introduce a change to your business. Whether it’s a new strategy or a new partner, you need an extensive report to have an overview of all important details. These reports usually analyze new target markets and competition, and contain a lot of statistical data.

While not the same, here is an example of an ecommerce dashboard that could help track each part of a campaign in detail, no matter whether you are launching a new product, testing a new strategy, and similar. Similar to a research report, it contains key data on your audience (target market), shows your top-selling products, conversion rate and more. If you are an online store owner who is using paid ads, you can rely on this report to monitor key online sales stats in line with Facebook Ads and Google Analytics. See more ecommerce dashboards here.

As you might guess from its name, you write the explanatory report when it’s necessary for you to explain a specific situation or a project you’ve done to your team members. It’s important to write this report in a way that everyone will be able to understand.

Explanatory reports include elements like research results, reasons and goals of the research, facts, methodology, and more. While not exactly an explanatory report, this example of a HubSpot marketing drilldown report is the closest thing to it, as it helps marketers drill into an individual landing page performance, and identify how good their best landing pages are at converting, or which ones have the best performance.

A progress report is actually an update for your manager or client – it informs them about where you stand at the moment and how things are going. It’s like a checkpoint on your way towards your goal.

These reports may be the least demanding to write since you don’t need to do comprehensive research before submitting them. You just need to sum up your progress up to the point when the report was requested. This business report may include your current results, the strategy you’re implementing, the obstacles you’ve come across, etc. If this is a marketing progress report you can use marketing report templates to provide a more comprehensive overview.

In many companies, progress reports are done on a weekly or even daily basis. Here is an example of a daily sales report from Databox. HubSpot users can rely on this sales rep drilldown business report to see how individual each sales rep is performing and measure performance against goals. Browse through all our KPI dashboards here.

What does a great business report look like? If you’re not sure what sections your report should have, you’ll learn what to include in the following lines.

Business Report Formatting

Different types of reports require different lengths and structures, so your business report format may depend on what elements your report needs to have. For example, progress reports are typically pretty simple, while analytical or explanatory reports are a different story.

However, most reports will start with a title and a table of contents, so the person reading the report knows what to expect. Then, add a summary and move on to the introduction. After you’ve written the body and the conclusion, don’t forget to include suggestions based on your findings that will help your team create an actionable plan as you move forward.

After that, list the references you used while creating the report, and attach any additional documents or images that can help the person reading the report understand it better.

This outline may vary depending on what kind of report you’re writing. Short business reports may not need a table of contents, and informative reports won’t contain any analyses. Also, less formal reports don’t need to follow a strict structure in every situation.

Business Report Contents

When it comes to the contents of your report, keep in mind the person who’s going to read it and try to balance between including all the relevant information, but not overwhelming the reader with too many details.

• The introduction to the report should state the reason why you’re writing it, and what its main goal is. Also, mention what methodology and reporting software you’ve used, if applicable.
• The body of the report is where you’ll expose all your key findings, explain your methodology, share the important data and statistics, and present your results and conclusion.
• The conclusion , similarly to the summary you’ll add at the beginning of the report, briefly singles out the most important points and findings of the report.

If you decide to include more sections like recommendations, this is where you’ll suggest the next steps your team or the company may want to take to improve the results or take advantage of them if they’re favorable.

PRO TIP: Are You Tracking the Right Metrics for Your SaaS Company?

As a SaaS business leader, there’s no shortage of metrics you could be monitoring, but the real question is, which metrics should you be paying most attention to? To monitor the health of your SaaS business, you want to identify any obstacles to growth and determine which elements of your growth strategy require improvements. To do that, you can track the following key metrics in a convenient dashboard with data from Profitwell:

• Recurring Revenue. See the portion of your company’s revenue that is expected to grow month-over-month.
• MRR overview. View the different contributions to and losses from MRR from different kinds of customer engagements.
• Customer overview . View the total number of clients your company has at any given point in time and the gains and losses from different customer transactions.
• Growth Overview . Summarize all of the different kinds of customer transactions and their impact on revenue growth.
• Churn overview. Measure the number and percentage of customers or subscribers you lost during a given time period.

If you want to track these in ProfitWell, you can do it easily by building a plug-and-play dashboard that takes your customer data from ProfitWell and automatically visualizes the right metrics to allow you to monitor your SaaS revenue performance at a glance.

You can easily set it up in just a few clicks – no coding required.

To set up the dashboard, follow these 3 simple steps:

Step 1: Get the template 

Step 2: Connect your Profitwell account with Databox. 

Step 3: Watch your dashboard populate in seconds.

Note : Other than text, make sure you include images, graphs, charts, and tables. These elements will make your report more readable and illustrate your points.

Whether you’re writing a specific type of business report for the first time or you simply want to improve the quality of your reports, make sure you follow this comprehensive guide to writing an effective business report.

• Do Your Research
• Create an Outline
• Determine Formatting Guidelines
• Think of an Engaging Title
• Write the Introduction
• Divide the Body of the Report into Sections
• Choose Illustrations
• Conclude Effectively
• Gather Additional Documentation
• Add a Summary
• Proofread Your Work

Step 1: Do Your Research

A well-planned report is a job half done. That means you need to do research before you start writing: you need to know who you’re writing for and how much they know about the topic of your report. You need to explore the best business dashboard software and templates you can use for your report.

Also, if you believe you will need additional resources and documents to add in the appendix, you should do it during this phase of report writing.

Step 2: Create an Outline

Once you’ve gathered the resources, it’s time to plan the report. Before you start writing, create an outline that will help you stick to the right structure. A business report is complex writing in which you can get lost very easily if you don’t have a clear plan.

Moreover, the report shouldn’t be complicated to read, so sticking to a plan will allow you to keep it concise and clear, without straying from the topic.

Step 3: Determine Formatting Guidelines

Most companies have their in-house formatting that every official document has to follow. If you’re not sure if such rules exist in your company, it’s time you checked with your managers.

If there arent’ any guidelines regarding formatting, make sure you set your own rules to make the report look professional. Choose a simple and readable format and make sure it supports all the symbols you may need to use in the report. Set up proper headings, spacing, and all the other elements you may need in Word or Google Docs.

Pro tip: Google Docs may be easier to share with people who are supposed to read your business report.

Step 4: Think of an Engaging Title

Even if you’re writing a formal business report, the title should be clear and engaging. Reports are typically considered dull as they’re a part of official business documentation, but there’s no reason why you can’t make them interesting to read. Your title should suit the report topic and be in different font size so the reader can recognize it’s a title. Underneath the title, you should add the name of the author of the report.

Step 5: Write the Introduction

A good introductory paragraph for a business report should explain to the reader why you’ve written the report. Use the introduction to provide a bit of background on the report’s topic and mention the past results if there’s been a significant improvement since your last report.

Step 6: Divide the Body of the Report into Sections

As this will be the most comprehensive part of your report, make sure you separate the data into logical sections. Your report is supposed to tell a story about your business, and these sections (such as methodology, hypothesis, survey, findings, and more) will help the data look well-organized and easy to read.

Step 7: Choose Illustrations

Of course, each of these sections should be followed with charts, graphs, tables, or other illustrations that help you make a point. Survey results are typically best displayed in pie charts and graphs, and these enable the reader to visualize the data better. From the formatting point of view, breaking the long text sections with illustrations makes the report more readable.

Pro tip: Using centralized dashboard solutions like Databox can bring your reporting game to the next level. Sign up for a forever-free trial now to see how you can use Databox to track and visualize performance easier than ever before .

Step 8: Conclude Effectively

Finish your report with a to-the-point conclusion that will highlight all the main data from the report. Make sure it’s not too long, as it’s supposed to be a summary of the body of the report. In case you don’t want to add a specific section for recommendations, this is where you can include them, along with your assessments.

Step 9: Gather Additional Documentation

If you’ve determined what additional documents, images, surveys, or other attachments you may need for your report, now is the time to collect them. Request access to those you may not be able to get on time, so you have everything you need by the deadline. Copy the documents you can use in the original form, and scan the documents you need in electronic format.

Step 10: Add a Summary

The summary is usually at the top of the report, but it’s actually something you should write after your report is completed. Only then will you know exactly what your most relevant information and findings are, so you can include them in this brief paragraph that summarizes your report’s main points.

The summary should tell the reader about the objective of the report, the methodology used, and even mention some of the key findings and conclusions.

Step 11: Proofread Your Work

It may seem like common sense, but this final step of the process is often overlooked. Proofreading your work is how you make sure your report will look professional because errors can ruin the overall impression the reader will form about your work, no matter how great the report is.

Look for any spelling or grammatical mistakes you can fix, and if you’re not sure about specific expressions or terminology, use Google to double-check it. Make sure your writing is to-the-point and clear, especially if you’re writing for people who may not know the industry so well. Also, double-check the facts and numbers you’ve included in the report before you send it out or start your reporting meeting.

Business Report Examples (with Ready-to-Use Templates)

Here, we’re sharing a few business reporting examples that you can copy, along with ready-to-use and free-to-download templates. If you don’t know where to start and what to include in different types of business reports, these business report examples are a great way to get started or at least get some inspiration to create yours.

Activity Report Example

Annual report example, project status report example, financial report example, sales report example, marketing report example.

Note : Each of the business report templates shared below can be customized to fit your individual needs with our DIY Dashboard Designer . No coding or design skills are necessary.

For reporting on sales activity, HubSpot users can rely this streamlined sales activity report that includes key sales metrics, such as calls, meetings, or emails logged by owner. This way, you can easily track the number of calls, meetings, and emails for each sales rep and identify potential leaks in your sales funnel. Check all our sales team activity dashboards here. Or if you are looking for dashboards that track general sales performance, browse through all Databox sales dashboards here.

If you’re preparing for annual reporting, you will benefit from choosing this HubSpot annual performance report . It contains all the relevant metrics, such as email and landing page performance, new contacts, top blog posts by page views, and more. See all our performance dashboard templates here.

Project status reports can be very similar to progress reports. If you’re in need of one of those, here’s an example of a Project overview dashboard from Harvest that shows that can help you create simple, but well-organized report based on metrics that matter: hours tracked, billable hours, billable amount split by team members., and more. Check out more project management dashboard templates we offer here.

Are you creating a financial report? You will find this QuickBooks + HubSpot integration a great choice for a financial performance dashboard that makes creating a report simple. This dashboard focuses on the essential financial report

ting metrics and answers all your revenue-related questions. See all Databox financial dashboards here.

If you’re tracking your sales team’s monthly performance, this sales report template will help you prepare an outstanding report. Check out all the vital productivity KPIs, track your progress towards your goals, and understand well how your current sales pipeline is performing. See all sales performance dashboards we have available here.

Marketing reports can be easily prepared by using this monthly marketing report template . With HubSpot’s reporting, you can determine where your website traffic is coming from, how your landing pages and specific blog posts are performing, and how successful your email campaigns are. Browse all Databox marketing dashboards or marketing report examples here.

Create a Professional Business Report in No Time with Databox

Does creating a business report still sound like a daunting task? It doesn’t have to be with Databox.

In times when we’re all trying to save our time and energy for things that matter rather than scattering valuable resources on tedious, repetitive tasks, it’s critical to optimize your business process. And we want to help you do just that.

Using a business reporting dashboard enables you to track data from all the different tools you’re using – but in one place. With Databox, you can monitor and report on performance in a single dashboard that is optimized for all your favorite devices and you can create streamlined and beautiful dashboards even if you are not that tech-savvy. (no coding or design skills are required).

Automating business reporting has never been easier. And with Databox, you can do exactly that in just a few clicks. Sign up now and get your first 3 business dashboards for free.

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A Message From Our CEO

At Databox, we’re obsessed with helping companies more easily monitor, analyze, and report their results. Whether it’s the resources we put into building and maintaining integrations with 100+ popular marketing tools, enabling customizability of charts, dashboards, and reports, or building functionality to make analysis, benchmarking, and forecasting easier, we’re constantly trying to find ways to help our customers save time and deliver better results.

Stefana Zarić is a freelance writer & content marketer. Other than writing for SaaS and fintech clients, she educates future writers who want to build a career in marketing. When not working, Stefana loves to read books, play with her kid, travel, and dance.

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Free Expense Report Templates

By Andy Marker | November 28, 2016 (updated June 5, 2023)

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We’ve compiled the most useful collection of free expense report templates for businesses, individuals, nonprofits, contractors, consultants, construction employees, and fundraisers so they can better track and manage their expense reports. 

Included on this page, you’ll find a monthly expense report template , a personal expense templat e, a printable business expense template , and more. We’ve also included a list of helpful tips for completing these expense report templates .

Simple Expense Report Template

Download a Simple Expense Report Template for

Excel |  Google Sheets  |  Smartsheet

This expense report is a simple spreadsheet template for documenting the date, type, and total amount for each expense. You can customize the template by changing the column headings for categorizing expenses, or adding new columns if needed. Expenses are itemized, and the total reimbursement amount is calculated for you, minus any advance payments.

Monthly Expense Report Template

Download a Monthly Expense Report Template for Excel | Google Sheets 

Keep your expenses organized and under control with this versatile monthly expense report template. The template features month-over-month records, with each month listed on a separate sheet, as well as a year-to-date total. This printable template is perfect for individuals, small businesses, fundraisers, project managers, contractors, construction workers, consultancies, and event managers who need to track expenses. Use it to stay on top of your finances and make better budgeting decisions.

Try one of these free business budget templates for your organization’s budgeting needs.

Personal Expense Template by Month

Download a Personal Expense Template by Month for Excel | Google Sheets

Consider using this personal expense template to effectively track your personal expenses on a monthly basis. With its user-friendly spreadsheet format, this printable expense template automatically calculates totals for you. You can customize the template to include only the expenses you want to monitor. Each month has its own dedicated sheet, making it convenient to track both monthly and annual expenses.

Expense Sheet Template

Download an Expense Sheet Template for Excel |  Google Sheets |  Smartsheet

This basic, printable expense spreadsheet template is designed for tracking expenses, whether personal or business related. Keep track of purchases and other expenses by recording the payment method, type of transaction, amount of payment, and other details. You can refer to this expense sheet as an easy reference tool, create a monthly expense report, and quickly add up expenses over any time period.

Weekly Expense Report Template

Download a Weekly Expense Report Template for Excel | Google Sheets |  Smartsheet

Some businesses require employees to submit a weekly expense report so that expenses are tracked and reimbursed at consistent intervals. This printable template provides a detailed record of expenses for each day of the week. You can edit the expense categories to match your needs, whether it’s travel costs, shipping charges, business meals, or other expenses. There is room for describing the business purpose, the payment type, and subtotals.

Travel Expense Report Template

Download a Travel Expense Report Template for Excel | Google Sheets  

Use this detailed , printable travel expense report template to keep track of business trip expenditures. The template includes mileage tracking, other transportation costs, lodging, meals, and more. There is also space to list miscellaneous expenses that may not fit in the other categories. You can include contact information for employer and employee, as well as info on the travel destination and purpose for the trip.

Expense Report With Mileage Tracking Template

Download an Expense Report With Mileage Tracking Template for Excel | Google Sheets  

Many businesses and organizations reimburse employees for mileage costs. This printable mileage expense sheet can be used to record and calculate any miles accrued for business purposes. Enter the rate per mile and number of miles to calculate the total reimbursement amount. You can include odometer readings and any pertinent notes about the travel purpose or outcome.

Business Expense Reimbursement Form

Download a Business Expense Reimbursement Form for

Excel | Google Sheets  

Employees can use this expenses template to request reimbursement for business costs, and employers can use it to document that remuneration has been paid. This is a basic, printable expense report template for describing costs, listing amounts, and recording the dates of each transaction. It can also easily be modified to include more columns or additional information.

Explore these small business budget templates to find effective tools for managing the financial health of your company.

Printable Template to Fill Out Manually for Business Expenses

 Download a Printable Template for Business Expenses Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF | Google Docs  

If you need a printable business expenses template, this template provides an itemized outline in table format and is perfect for manually filling in your expenses. Use this easy-to-fill template to document various expenses, the dates they were accrued, total costs, and employee information. This is a simple form that can be modified to suit your business. 

Download one of these free small business expense report templates to help ensure your small business’ expenditures and reimbursements are accurate.

Credit Card Expense Report Template

Download a Credit Card Expense Report Template for Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF | Google Docs 

This template summarizes credit card expenses to track business purpose and amount spent. This printable expense report should be accompanied by receipts for each transaction listed. This can be used for tracking monthly credit card expenses and to support accounting practices.

Annual Expense Report Template

Download an Annual Expense Report Template for Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF | Google Docs  

Use this annual expense report to itemize monthly, quarterly, and yearly totals. This printable form provides a quick breakdown of costs for different business categories and creates a brief report. There is also room for notes if additional information needs to be included.

Startup Expenses Template

Download a Startup Expenses Template for Excel | Google Sheets

This comprehensive expenses-tracking template is designed for startups to monitor all the expenditures related to launching a new business. The printable template consists of pre-built sections for specific expense categories, such as building and real estate, leasehold improvements, location and administrative expenses, opening inventory, capital equipment, advertising and promotional expenses, and miscellaneous expenses. It offers a ready-made report that can be shared with key stakeholders and investors to review your startup's expenses.

Daily Expense Report Template

Download a Daily Expense Report Template for Excel | Adobe PDF | Google Sheets

This printable daily expense report template is a versatile solution for various industries such as nonprofit, fundraising, construction, events, trucking, and more. It empowers you to track and monitor daily expenditures efficiently, ensuring timely and accurate reimbursements.

Petty Cash Expense Report Template

Download a Petty Cash Expense Report Template for Excel | Google Sheets

For organizations that keep petty cash on hand to pay for incidental expenses (e.g., paying for employees’ lunches, reimbursements, office supplies, etc.), this printable template is the perfect solution to track minor, one-off expenditures. The template provides Currency on Hand, Quantity, and Balance columns for each petty-cash expense. The template then allows you to reconcile these expenses with Total Reconciled Petty Cash and Total Approved Petty Cash cells, and the over-under difference between the two.

What Is an Expense Report? 

An expense report is a document used to track business-related expenses, such as transportation, food, lodging, and conference fees. This report includes details about each expense and acts as an organized record for reimbursement or accounting purposes.

An expense report can be used in various scenarios, such as tracking mileage and gas expenses during work-related travel, documenting client meetings that involve meals or entertainment, or recording office supply purchases made by employees. Maintaining these reports is crucial for budgeting and tax purposes.

Requiring receipts for all listed expenses on a report is essential to minimize errors and facilitate tax filing and audits for businesses. Regularly collecting expense reports from employees, whether on a weekly or monthly basis, serves as a safeguard against budgeting inaccuracies and helps ensure responsible use of funds.

An expense report can vary in length and complexity depending on your business requirements. It can range from a simple form to a more detailed document. Typically, an expense report includes a comprehensive list of expenses, with each item accompanied by a corresponding description. Expenses are often categorized, such as mileage, meals, hotel costs, or employee training. In the case of a travel-specific report, additional details about the destination and purpose of travel may also be included.

When listing expenses for reimbursement, it is essential to include any advance payments, which should be deducted from the total reimbursement amount. Additionally, the expense report should feature a signature line for approval and provide contact information for the individual requesting reimbursement. To maintain accurate records, it is advisable to indicate the specific time period during which the expenses were incurred.

What Is an Expense Report Template? 

An expense report template is a tool that allows businesses or individuals to track and manage their expenses. An expense report template helps you record and organize your expenses, making it easier to get reimbursed and keep accurate financial records.

Expense report templates are not only helpful for tracking business expenses but can also be useful in creating a personal budget. Whether you're managing your monthly income and household expenses, undertaking a remodeling project, or planning a special event like a wedding, a personal budget can help you keep track of your primary expenses. It enables you to identify areas where you can reduce costs and increase your savings.

While expense reports may vary, they typically include the following sections, which you can customize to suit your expense-tracking needs: 

• Name: Enter the name of the individual to be reimbursed upon submission of the expense report.
• Department: Specify the department where the employee or individual works or the department responsible for reimbursement.
• Manager: Provide the name of the manager overseeing the individual who can authorize expense reimbursement.
• Date: Indicate the date(s) when the expenses were incurred.
• Description: Provide a brief description for each expense.
• Expense Category: Categorize expenses into specific categories such as transportation, lodging, food, or mileage.
• Subtotal: Calculate the total of all expenses.
• Advances: Record any advances given to the individual being reimbursed.
• Total Reimbursement: Calculate the final reimbursement amount by subtracting any advances from the subtotal.
• Authorized By: Enter the name of the person authorized to approve the expense reimbursement.
• Receipts: Attach all relevant receipts to the expense report for accurate and timely payment processing.

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In academic or research terms, a trip report basically means that there will be an activity outside that has something to do with particular research or any academic activity where the researcher is eager to join or invite someone to be with the group of the said event. You can have the weekly report or monthly report template to make the said paper; it is available in a sample format where you can easily make the appeal you want to state. You can also see more on  Conference Reports .

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Business travel survives the Zoom era, as leaders jump back on flights

It turns out that jet-setting on the company dime has eternal appeal. Business trips can conjure up images of fancy first-class tickets to major cities or staying at a Hilton in a small town about 20 minutes from the airport. Either way, it seems that the pandemic didn’t kill the corporate travel bug.

The brakes on business trips were first pulled when COVID-19 hit, as lockdowns and international travel restrictions were implemented. Zoom took off while planes stalled, as the video-conferencing company went from 10 million daily meeting participants in December 2019 to 300 million a few months later in April 2020.

As the lockdown lifted, some itched to vacation again (surging to the point that the term “revenge travel” was coined), but corporate travel was slow to get its feet off the ground. Its sluggish return made some question if business trips were at the end of an era. Perhaps Zoom and remote work meant that there was no longer a need to leave the house, much less the country, to really connect with others. 

“Businesses aren’t going to support nonessential travel if the work being proposed can be done virtually,” Brian Bloom, Korn Ferry’s vice president of global benefits and mobility operations, said in 2021 . And while bosses were looking to cut costs by eliminating travel, workers weren’t looking to risk their health either. In 2021, only one-quarter of those over 55 were comfortable traveling for work even after being vaccinated, according to an IBM survey of 15,000 global participants.

But years later, it seems as if corporate demand hasn’t died off, it just was dozing off for a bit. And the airlines confirmed as much. Alaska Air reported a return to pre-pandemic levels of business travel, as sales for corporate accounts soared by 22% in the first quarter. Delta and United each reported 14% increases in first-quarter revenue, with a United executive noting that the company notched nine of its top 10 corporate booking days in its history this year. That’s coming off of the rebound in 2023 , as air travel rose to 94% of 2019 levels, according to the International Air Transport Association.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that business travel isn’t still going through growing pains . A 2023 report from Deloitte found that while recovery is occurring, the trend “likely faces a limited upside” in part due to the cost of flying and sustainability mandates. 

Still, the return of corporate travel is occurring in the background of a years-long campaign to go back to pre-pandemic ways of work, as big names in tech and finance push for a fully in-person week. One of the major talking points for those that suggested back to office work was that it would create better connections , a similar talking point that crops up when it comes to the merits of traveling to meet with clients in-person. 

It seems as if the mindset is slowly gaining traction, as a 2023 study from Global Business Travel Association projected spending on business travel will surpass pre-pandemic levels of $1.4 trillion this year and balloon to nearly $1.8 trillion by 2027. After Omicron and other surges, global business travel began to find its footing again in 2022, according to the trade group.

“The headwinds that were anticipated to impact the rebound of global business travel over the past year didn’t materialize and that is good news,” Suzanne Neufang, Global Business Travel Associate’s CEO said in a statement last year to Fortune’s Chris Morris. “This latest forecast now indicates an accelerated return to pre-pandemic spending levels sooner than anticipated as well as growth ahead in the coming years.”

As the ever-looming recession remains unannounced and executives continue to extol the benefits of in-person work, the company card has started to thaw. It appears as if the floodgates, or air gates, are beginning to open up again.

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