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Free Effective Reporting course

Free, right now

The first four chapters online, with a knowledge check after each chapter. Plus a PDF with a worksheet and cheat sheet.

You can read the lessons straight away. For the PDF, you leave your details.

Start with lesson 1

Prefer to have a trainer there with you?

The one-day Effective Reporting course. You put your own monthly report on the table and, together with a trainer, turn it into a template that lasts.

€625,- excl. VAT

View the Effective Reporting course All Presenting & writing courses →

You submit the monthly report on time, the figures are accurate to the last decimal, and in the meeting hardly anyone looks at it. Or worse: a question comes up that you could have prevented with a single sentence in the summary. That is rarely down to your figures. It is down to the translation of those figures into something someone is willing to base a decision on.

This free online course is the starter for our full Effective reporting. In four chapters you first establish who you are writing for and which decision that reader has to take. You then build the management summary and the key figures block, present figures and charts so that the eye finds the deviation straight away, and break down a variance into a recommendation with an owner and a deadline. Each chapter ends with a knowledge check of three questions.

The full course goes on to cover the reporting cycle, the information paradox, the pitfalls of financial reporting, the five-step plan, choosing KPIs and setting targets, coherence between the layers of your report, alignment with organisational goals, layout and choice of medium, and building your own reporting template. Would you like to work through that material with a trainer, and with your own report on the table? Then take a look at the Effective Reporting training course.

Effective reporting
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Chapters 1 to 3 in a single PDF, with a worksheet and cheat sheet.

Contents:

  • 0.-

    Introduction
    The three questions a report answers, and how this free course is structured.

  • 1.-

    Who you are writing for
    The five effectiveness criteria, the information needs of each management layer, and the yardstick for action orientation.

  • 2.-

    The management summary and the key figures block
    The fixed structure of a report, the summary in three parts, figures alongside a target, and commentary in three sentences.

  • 3.-

    Figures and charts that land
    What the eye sees before it looks, colour with one fixed meaning, the choice between table and chart, and the misleading axis scale.

  • 4.-

    From figure to decision
    Breaking down a variance into price, volume and timing, the narrative alongside the figures, and the recommendation with an owner and a deadline.

  • 5.-

    The management report as a steering instrument
    The three reporting questions, the reporting cycle as a rhythm, and the types of management reports.

  • 6.-

    The information paradox
    Why more figures lead to less insight, pruning your report, and the limits of attention.

  • 7.-

    Pitfalls of financial reporting
    The mass of figures, arriving too late, distortion in the presentation, reporting without an owner, and running on autopilot.

  • 8.-

    The five-step plan
    The five steps in order, the preparation of your report and who is involved at each step.

  • 9.-

    Choosing the right KPIs
    From critical success factor to KPI, leading and lagging indicators, limiting the number and setting targets.

  • 10.-

    Coherence in the report
    The reporting pyramid, alignment between the layers, from total to detail and consistent definitions.

  • 11.-

    Aligning with organisational goals
    The KPI cascade, alignment with management, and reporting per management layer.

  • 12.-

    Report layout
    Visual hierarchy on the page, writing style in the explanatory text and the choice of medium.

  • 13.-

    Your own reporting template
    A baseline measurement of your current report, building the template, gathering feedback and embedding it in the cycle.

The trainers who deliver this course

That is the difference with a pdf: there is someone standing in front of the class who answers your questions and thinks along with your own situation.

Christy trainer in communication and leadership 9,2 from 256 evaluations Luis Finance and tax trainer 8,9 from 162 evaluations Ruben Trainer in project management, change management and lean 8,2 from 15 evaluations Hugo Trainer Excel, Power BI and MS Project 8,7 from 14 evaluations

What participants say about Learnit

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I found the 'Interview Techniques' course to be good. Nothing to fault. It was also good that Job called beforehand for a short preliminary discussion. You don't see that very often. A very worthwhile course. It also had a strong element of repetition. Plenty of variety, including between theory and practice. Learned a lot, and applied it straight away during the course. And I think these learnings will also help me further when conducting interviews.
Tjeerd J
We took the Outlook, Teams and OneNote course with Roy Nieuwenhuijzen. Good content, and a few days before the course he got in touch with me (coordinator of the course, head of the secretariat). Pleasant that you can fill in the day itself as needed. The booklet for reference is rather dated, but apparently there is little up-to-date material to be found.
Inge Brouwers
In May 2024 I took the WordPress course. As an IT enthusiast with broad but not necessarily deep knowledge, I wanted to know more about WordPress. How do you install everything and how do you start building a website. This course is extremely well suited to that. From the outset you learn in 3 days how to start a website and what to look out for. I now have a solid basis for getting to work with WordPress and I know my way around the various options. The course is recommended for anyone who wants to learn in three days what WordPress can do and how to apply it.
Igno Freriksen

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Our free courses and webinars

Your own motivation and commitment are essential if you want to master something new. You can get a long way with self-study. Learnit wants to contribute to this by offering valuable content such as free webinars and courses. This way you can get acquainted with new fields of learning. Once you have made a start, you may discover that there are also many advantages to taking a course at Learnit under the guidance of an experienced trainer.

  • You spend several days working dedicatedly on your learning objectives, which means you make progress more quickly
  • The trainer helps you over the bumps and spots your blind spot
  • the trainer can explore what your learning objectives are and show you the shortest learning route
  • You can practise real-life situations really well during the course
  • You get to know other participants with an interest in the same subject

In short, you achieve much more in less time.

The free courses are suitable for home study, as you can download them online as a PDF. The range of free courses consists of IT and Communication & Management courses. Would you like to learn more about these subjects, or is the subject you want to learn about not included? Then take a look at our courses.

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