Unless your teacher or professors also happens to own a business and hires you as an employee, it's not likely that you'll ever be assigned to write true business reports while you're in school. Once you begin working for a business, however, you may be asked to write many, so it's a good idea to know the difference ahead of time.
A traditional essay includes an introductory paragraph with a thesis statement that describes a writer's main point, three or more body paragraphs with topic sentences that relate back to the thesis statement and elaborate on it, and a conclusion paragraph that sums up the essay. Some essays include graphics, tables, and illustrations to help a reader see the point the writer is making, but most do not.
Essays can be written on nearly any topic a writer would like to study. For instance, a writer can write an essay about a book character, a local election, or a new scientific discovery as long as the essay is written in the proper form and structure to fit the definition of an essay.
A business report focuses on recording very specific pieces of information about a business. For instance, a business report may need to include information about a business's profits and losses, problems faced by the business and recommendations in addressing them, and future projections based on the data included in the report.
A business report will usually include graphs, tables, and numerical data. Like an essay, it will likely include an introduction, a body of some writing, and a conclusion. However, business reports are written based on factual information that can be proven through recorded data while some essays, such as descriptive and narrative essays, can be based more on the writer's views and opinions.
These reports are limited to topics that pertain to the business being discussed, so there's little room for creativity in choosing the type of business report to write or in deciding which information should be included in the report.
The purpose of an essay is to inform readers on a selected topic. The type of essay written is usually based on how to best present the essay to get the writer's point across.
The purpose of a business report is to inform management, other employees, and stockholders public about the business's operations, projected outlook, and issues that need to be addressed along with proposed solutions to those problems.