An investigation is the systematic and minute examination of a subject or matter. It can be conducted in legal, regulatory, corporate, and human resource contexts to uncover the truth of an allegation or to assess compliance with laws, regulations, or contractual obligations. An investigative report is the document that captures these findings and articulates them in a coherent, clear, and compelling fashion.
In other words, an investigation report should deliver the unadulterated story of what happened, without adding inflections or bias. This is perhaps the most important thing for any investigator to keep in mind when writing an investigation report. The resulting document may be seen by supervisors, directors, and C-level executives in a company, as well as attorneys and judges if it ends up in court. A sloppy, rushed investigation report can unravel weeks of meticulous work and destroy your credibility.
The best way to avoid these pitfalls is to take your time and thoroughly polish the investigation report before submission. This goes beyond a quick spell-check or reading it out loud: It means stripping out lingering grammatical errors, checking that all sections and exhibits are numbered correctly, and ensuring consistency in language use throughout the report. It also means avoiding jargon, emotive words, or overly-broad conclusions based on speculation or emotion.
In addition, a clear audit trail is essential to making sure all evidence is properly accounted for and used to back up a finding. This is one of the key skills that certification programs like McAfee Institute focus on, teaching investigators how to document interviews and other investigative work with precision and undeniable objectivity. This is especially critical in a case where you’re dealing with multiple types of evidence, from physical documents to electronic files and testimonial statements.