If you want the receivers of your finance reports to read them then you need to grab their attention at the top of your document. If you fail to do that they’ll skim your report (at best) or just do something else.
Here are three ways you could start a finance report that will keep the reader reading.
✅ Make an unexpected or controversial statement (followed by supporting evidence). If making a bold statement is too much for you, you could instead re-frame the statement as a question. We should stop making product A becomes should we stop making product A?
✅ Use a quotation that summarises your message. The quotation could be an epigraph from literature (or a web search) but not necessarily. A great way to start an internal audit report would be a quotation gathered in the audit fieldwork that highlights a key risk or gives assurance to the reader.
✅ Describe an event that has happened and why it matters to your organisation. This does not have to be a controversial event, just something that is important to the reader.