Executive summary

An executive summary (or management summary, sometimes also called speed read) is a short document or section of a document produced for business purposes. It summarizes a longer report or proposal or a group of related reports in such a way that readers can rapidly become acquainted with a large body of material without having to read it all. It usually contains a brief statement of the problem or proposal covered in the major document(s), background information, concise analysis and main conclusions. It is intended as an aid to decision-making by managers and has been described as the most important part of a business plan. An executive summary was formerly known as a summary. It differs from an abstract in that an abstract will usually be shorter and is typically intended as an overview or orientation rather than being a condensed version of the full document. Abstracts are extensively used in academic research where the concept of the executive summary is not in common usage. "An abstract is a brief summarizing statement... read by parties who are trying to decide whether or not to read the main document", while "an executive summary, unlike an abstract, is a document in miniature that may be read in place of the longer document". In common usage the term "executive summary" is a synonym for "summary" and has partially displaced that term. There is general agreement on the structure of an executive summary for business use - books and training courses emphasise similar points. Typically, an executive summary will: be approximately 5-10% of the length of the main report be written in language appropriate for the target audience consist of short, concise paragraphs begin with a summary be written in the same order as the main report only include material present in the main report make recommendations provide a justification have a conclusion be readable separately from the main report sometimes summarize more than one document Executive summaries are important as a communication tool in both academia and business.