There are times when passive voice is actually preferable to active voice. Advertising is often criticized for its effect on prices. Anonymous complaints have been received. In the next sentences, the writer prefers not to name the doer. The funds were restored before the end of the month.
Passive voice is only a problem when writers use it indiscriminately.
Writers who use the indirect way of expressing action lose their readers by forcing them to find their way through unnecessarily convoluted expressions. Such writing suggests that the writer is reluctant to make the kind of emphatic statements that result from active voice. As much as possible, each message should be adapted to the individual reader. The tone of some reports differs from that of usual business letters. Writers must consider the purpose of the communication and, among other factors, organizational precedent for similar reports.