How to Cite a Report in Harvard Style?

A report is an official document that summarises some sort of information for a specific audience. It serves a highly specific objective, too. Reports are mostly in written form, although their summaries might be presented orally.

Companies, banks, accountants and industry groups, etc. are mostly the ones who make the most use of reports in their daily work routine. Some reports are meant to present minor project details every now and then.

But reports on a larger scale are to be presented to a certain audience in a company meeting, for example. Such large-scale reports might even go on to become published on a company’s official platform.

Additionally, reports might also be published in higher-order platforms, such as databases. Commonly used reports databases include Business Source Premier, Factiva, DataAnalysis, etc.

In-text Citation and Reference Formats with Examples

Harvard style follows this basic format for referencing and citing a report from a company’s website, a database and even for a company profile (if it’s in the form of a report).

In-text citation: (Author Surname, Year Published)

Reference list entry: Author Surname, Author Initial. (Year Published). Title of the Report in italics. Series Number. [online] City: Publisher, p.# for a single page or pp.# for page range. Available at: http://Website URL [Accessed Date Accessed].

In case the author’s surname is missing, the title of the report is written in place of the author’s name instead (exemplified further below).

For example:

In-text citation: 9 (GESTATIONAL DIABETES MELLITUS: SCREENING, DIAGNOSIS AND FOLLOW UP, 2014)

Reference list entry: GESTATIONAL DIABETES MELLITUS: SCREENING, DIAGNOSIS AND FOLLOW UP. (2014). NHS Diabetes.

Citing a report from a Database

In such a case, the name of the database is considered as the author’s name. The format for citing such a source is:

In-text citation: (Author Surname Year) OR

(Author Surname Year, Page number)

Reference list entry: Author Surname, Initial(s), Year, Title of the Report in italics, viewed Day Month Year, Name of the Database.

For example:

In-text citation: (Datamonitor 2010) OR

(Datamonitor 2010, p. 13)

Reference list entry: Datamonitor 2010, Rio Tinto SWOT analysis, viewed 20 January 2012, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost.

Citing a report from a Company Profile or Website

In this case, the name of the report’s creator is mentioned. The format for citing such a source in Harvard style is the same as that of a report obtained from a database.

Here is an example of a report cited from an Australian company platform called IBISWorld. Its report that is being cited here, mentions the report analyst (surname Stephen) who created it.

In-text citation: (Stephen 2012) OR

(Stephen 2012, p. 24)

Reference list entry: Stephen, T 2012, IBISWorld Industry Report L7714. Retail Property Operators in Australia, viewed 20 January 2013, IBISWorld.

Citing an annual report

Citing an annual report in print form

The basic format for such a source in Harvard style is:

In-text citation: (Corporate author Year) OR

(Corporate author Year, page)

Reference list entry: Corporate Author, Year, Full title of the annual report in italics, Publisher, Place of Publication.

For example:

In-text citation: (Tabcorp 2012) OR

(Tabcorp 2012, p. 2)

Reference list entry: Tabcorp 2012, Annual report 2012, Tabcorp Holdings Limited, Melbourne.

Citing an online annual report

In case it’s an online annual report, the citation format remains the same, whereas the reference list entry format becomes:

Corporate Author, Year, Full title of the annual report in italics, viewed Day Month Year, <URL>.

For example:

In-text citation: (Woolworths Limited 2015) OR

(Woolworths Limited, p. 12)

Reference list entry: Woolworths Limited 2015, Annual report 2015, viewed 10 December 2015, <http://www.woolworthslimited.com.au/ annualreport/2015/files/Woolworths_AR_2015.pdf>.

Frequently Asked Questions