Explanatory letter

Explanatory letter
An explanation letter at work is a formal printed letter or email written to explain something that occurred, to answer an inquiry or provide missing information. Clients, contractors, team members or students may write this type of letter to provide information and inform other individuals about situations. For example, a professional might use this type of letter to explain the reason they missed a deadline or lost a client. These letters can help clarify miscommunications between peers, supervisors, instructors or business partners. They might also become documented as part of an official record for future reference.
Writing a letter of explanation can provide many benefits to the individual writing the letter because it allows them to share their point of view in situations. For example, a team member who misinterpreted something might write a letter explaining their confusion about their task. The team member may use the letter to explain their perspective of the situation and any reasoning that contributed to their understanding of the task. In this scenario, the written documentation from the team member might help resolve the miscommunication and prevent it from happening again in the future.
These letters can also help in personal situations like mortgage or loan payments. Financial lenders might require explanatory letters about their client's finances, especially if it may affect future payments. Specific reasons for wanting these can include address changes, gain or loss of jobs and late or missing payments. Sometimes individuals might need to add other documents to their letters for reference.
1. Choose letter format
Clients, team members or students may use print or email for their letters. Letters that are typed, printed and mailed are typically more formal, while emailed letters are usually more informal. The format of letter you choose can depend on the communication style of your work environment, relationships or partnerships.
2. Explain the situation
To begin writing this type of letter, you might explain the situation or circumstance and any contributing factors. Consider including information to answer questions like:

What happened?

How did it happen?
Were there contributing factors?
What is the current situation?
Including answers to these questions can provide detailed information about the situation and help the explanation stay concise. It's also important to reference your role in the situation and what preventative steps might have helped.
3. Take responsibility and accountability
Taking responsibility refers to expressing acknowledgment for any personal choices you made that may have contributed to the misunderstanding or mistake, rather than suggesting someone else was responsible for it. It's important to include how you plan to handle the situation differently in the future to prevent it from happening again. For example, someone who missed a deadline might say they will start keeping a monthly or weekly checklist with deadlines to help prevent them from missing another one. Offering ways to repair the current situation is also important.