Seeking to popularise business stories and taking the consumer's point of view has led to lapses in impartiality at the BBC and has provided ammunition for critics to accuse the corporation of "dumbing down" its business journalism, according to an independent report published today.

The Money Programme, Radio Five Live and the 10 O'Clock News are among the programmes singled out for criticism in the report on the impartiality of BBC business coverage, commissioned by the BBC Trust from a panel chaired by Sir Alan Budd.

However, individual business reports on Radio 4's The World at One and File on Four, and Five Live's Weekend Business were commended as "outstanding pieces in terms of fairness, accuracy, context and balance".

The report also concluded that there is no doubt the BBC takes business reporting seriously in terms of the amount of coverage and resources, and found many examples of high-quality output and expertise shown by some specialist correspondents.

However, an interview with Bill Gates on the 10 O'Clock News on January 30 2007 was criticised for being "at times sycophantic in tone".

"We also agreed with witnesses that a number of BBC interviews with Stuart Rose, chief executive of Marks & Spencer, in January 2007 were too uncritical," the report said.

"We note that the number of business stories especially on the 10 O'Clock News is high, but many of them are framed, as we have said, in the consumer perspective," the panel added.

"The need to attract and maintain an audience has led to some changes in the approach taken by business programmes towards a more popular style. In some quarters this is welcomed but in others it is viewed as 'dumbing down'.

"We particularly noted this trend in The Money Programme. It is not for us to question presentational style as such but we are required to consider the effect that style may have on impartiality."

The review makes three recommendations to improve coverage: the BBC should address the lack of knowledge of business issues among staff; widen "the range of editorial ideas and programming about business"; and "ensure compliance in business coverage with standards of impartiality".

Sir Alan's review goes on: "We believe that the polarisation of views between business and consumer means that much of the ground in between is overlooked. This includes the role of business in society, the international context and the workplace."

In some cases, the preoccupation with the consumer angle can lead to what the report calls "some items of no real consequence".

A series of reports on Breakfast on BBC1 in January "amounted to the promotion of a £19 suit from Asda", Sir Alan's report concluded.

"The BBC in its written evidence recognises that BBC journalists need to be clear that the consumer perspective is not the only one and that other views and interests need to be represented. The BBC's business editor, Robert Peston, says the language of choice is that of the consumer, the Tesco shopper, the motorist, the bank customer," the panel said.

Five Live was also singled out for focusing on consumer interests in business stories, and for presenters and reporters giving personal views.

"We listened to a large amount of material on Five Live and noted that occasionally some presenters and reporters gave their personal views and preferences about particular commercial products," the report said.

"We have learnt among other things that one is a fan of Majestic Wine, another is an enthusiastic subscriber to Sky and one likes shopping at JJB Sports.

"We understand that having presenters with strong and engaging personalities is an essential part of Five Live's success but believe that there is a challenge to the BBC in combining this style with its requirement to be impartial."

The report said that if companies record large profits, stories tend to focus on the negative aspects, rather than "examining the benefits to staff and society of a British company doing well".

"We believe that the BBC is at times unconsciously partial and unbalanced in its coverage of business issues. In its evidence the BBC says many, perhaps most, news editors and producers would regard business as a weaker area than politics, international affairs, health or the environment," the review added.

As an example, it points to the BBC's coverage of the threatened strike action by British Airways cabin crew in January of this year.

"Too much emphasis was placed on how much flights were likely to be disrupted and insufficient attention was given to examining the claims of staff in a full and fair way," the report warned.

Panorama was also condemned for an episode called Whose Water is It Anyway?, which the panel said, "seemed to relish publicly humiliating RWE, the German owners of Thames Water" by hiring its own water tanker and addressing RWE management through a megaphone, which "did not create an impression of balance and fairness".

The panel also noted that "the departure of BP's chief executive, Lord Browne, went largely unreported", which led it to believe: "Sometimes the preoccupation with the individual consumer angle can cause the mainstream bulletins to miss business stories that are important in their own right and have a major impact on the UK economy."

The BBC was also warned to be careful over blogs.

"We noted that the business editor made a scathing attack in his blog on the newly launched Microsoft Vista operating system. This appeared to be against the BBC's guidelines which state that blogs are subject to the same level of editorial care as other content," the report said.

Sir Alan's report noted that the BBC currently only has one labour affairs correspondent and "although very experienced and knowledgeable he rarely appears on television".

However, it welcomed the fact the BBC is intending to introduce a new workplace reporting role.

Sir Alan's panel monitored a wide range of TV, radio and online output from the BBC's economics and business unit and other areas of the corporation.

In addition, it commissioned audience research from The Blinc Partnership, which showed that the BBC's business coverage is "widely trusted and is regarded as being pre-eminent in providing accurate and balanced information".

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