The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) recognizes two reports: Appraisal Reports and Restricted Appraisal Reports. When the intended users include others than the client, an Appraisal Report must be provided. The Appraisal Report contains more details than the Restricted Appraisal Report. Both reports must provide sufficient details to allow the intended users to understand the report well enough. 

A report prepared for no one but the owner is usually with less details because the equipment is well known to the client.

The Restricted Appraisal Report contains only summary discussions of the data and the appraiser’s reasoning, analysis and research data. Supporting documentation that is not provided with the report is retained in the appraiser’s file. The level of details included in the report is specific to the agreed details and the intended use of the report.

Appraisal Reports are usually used by courts, tax authorities, lenders, business owners, auditors and others.

Reports may be designed to facilitate the subsequent asset disposal and work as a marketing tool for the client. This is frequently the case with estate administrators, who may want to handle the act of selling themselves.