A special report is a customized financial report that deviates from standard reporting formats and addresses unique information needs while maintaining professional standards and clarity. It can be created to satisfy regulatory or contractual requirements, to communicate information in different ways than a traditional financial statement, or to provide additional analysis and information beyond what is presented in a financial report. Special reports are typically prepared by entities to meet specific information needs or to comply with certain contractual agreements or regulatory provisions related to audited financial statements.
The Hastings Center regularly publishes Special Reports on its research projects in bioethics. These may include single-authored essays or collections of essays by members of project working groups, consensus documents, or lively discussions among group members who reached differing moral conclusions about a particular project’s central questions.
Unlike a journal article that provides qualitative research results, a special report presents quantitative data in the form of charts and tables. It identifies gaps in existing research knowledge and highlights areas of interest for further investigation, thus helping to define the scope of your systematic investigation. This type of publication is also called a “literature review” because it surveys the literature on a given topic to help the reader understand the context of your work.
The term special report can also refer to the broadcasting of a breaking news story that is of great public importance, such as the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11, 2012, or a major political development out of the nation’s capital (such as a Supreme Court ruling) that requires immediate attention. Special Reports are often presented with a ticker and a lower third graphic to convey a sense of urgency.
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