Reporting on risks probably ranks right up there with watching grass grow for many employees. There are at least a thousand more exciting ways to spend a moment, even at work.

However, reporting carries enormous importance and needs to be conducted with fullest skill and seriousness. In fact, a report won’t be nearly as effective if it isn’t done right, because no one will understand or pay attention to the results. Bear four things in mind when preparing reports: what to report, the audience for the report, high-impact information to report, and reporting frequency.

Most risk reports have the following four major components:

Try to limit your key risks to those that are truly vital. Can you tell a full story by talking about only the top ten risks? Can you get it down to the top five?

Keep the report physically brief. Even many large organizations order report writers to keep these statements to two pages. Nobody has enough time to review an exhaustive 60-page report on risk.

What are your risks? What do you need to act on right now? That should be the focus of the report.

Consider your audience. If your organization contains more than one management tier, think carefully about who needs to know specific types of information, and at what level. As a rule of thumb, the higher you climb in an organization, the more important it is to limit the amount of information you include. This becomes increasingly challenging, because more risks usually appear as your reporting “rolls up” toward the top.

Always keep your focus on the top risks. Most likely, the CEO only cares about the top five for the entire organization. It’s likely the maximum that the organization can handle at one time.

For multiple-site or multiple-department businesses, managers in different locations or departments will require different information, which may need to be tailored to them. What does the human resources department need to know? What does legal require? How is that different from what the head of a business department needs?

Don’t generate too many reports; they take too much time and effort. But in certain cases where groups or risks are large, multiple reports are often worthwhile.

Now that you have generated the risk report, how do you disseminate it to others? This requires more than simply submitting the document. Actually, you will be seeking a much more dynamic platform—one that creates impact. After all, you’re reporting on risk processes, which many high-powered businesses would rather ignore than implement. Thus, you need to deliver the goods with as much impact as if you were pitching a business plan to investors or a proposal to prospective clients.

Create that impact by tightening up the material you have gathered. Make it very concise. You have identified the company’s top risks; hopefully, you have also narrowed them down to the top five or so for each audience. You know the trends and explanations behind them. Now, see if you can condense that information into a report about two pages long! Or put it on an intranet with a risk dashboard.Keep it very brief and to the point. By doing so, you will make an immediate impact on your board members and senior management.

Be sure the report spotlights not only pure risks but also risks versus return. That way, you can gain perspective over the entire view of the key risks’ relationship to your business. Don’t forget to build in some good news as well, such as successfully implemented risk mitigation or an averted risk event. Make sure that risk is viewed positively, particularly when you are working toward a change in the company’s culture and attitude toward risk.

Determine a schedule for generating risk reports and follow that schedule consistently. When determining the frequency with which you will issue reports, consider the following questions:

Most companies prepare monthly or quarterly reports. If you carry more financial risks, then your reporting frequency would increase, perhaps becoming monthly. (Some risks move even faster, such as trading risks.) If you have more operational risks, then you might consider quarterly or semiannual reports. Strategic risks may require only semiannual or annual summaries.

Keep in mind that every business contains notable differences in operations, strategy, finances, and types of risk. Ultimately, the frequency of reporting will be determined by how often your risks change—and how they shift the company’s overall landscape.