ACC 498: Senior Seminar In Accounting: Find Company and Industry Information

It's likely that  your analysis of accounting issues related to a company or industry would be strengthened by examining relevant congressional testimony -- transcripts of appearances before congressional committees by financial, legal and academic experts. Many of these transcripts are available online, but they aren't always easy to find. TCNJ library catalog includes records for thousands of congressional hearings, with embedded links to the full-text transcript.

Try combining relevant terms (such as gaming and policy; or accounting and automotive industry) and then limit the results from your search [Resource type = Government Documents]. You can further limit your results by year to identify the most recent publications.

A small example of the variety of available congressional hearings is shown below.

Find company information: financials, company histories, analysis, etc.

Mergent Online 

• Spreadsheet financials, including ratio analyses (up to 15 years or more) -- downloadable to Excel
• Create customized comparison reports (company-to-industry, etc.)
• Includes access to annual reports, 10-Ks, 10-Qs and other SEC filings (for executive compensation, look for the latest proxy statement: DEF 14A)

ABI/Inform Global - In addition to articles on general topics in business and management, this database includes company reports.

• Change search interface from Basic to Advanced
• Search by company name (e.g. "nokia"), then specify Company/Organization in the accompanying search box
• Search for keywords that describe your concept (such as "financial performance"), then use suggested search terms (or subject terms from relevant results) to refine your search
• Note that "investment policy," "corporate profiles," "equities and bonds," "market data" or "earnings per share" are all examples of viable search terms; other potentially relevant search terms include "forecast," "trends" and "case study"
• Combine the company name with the search phrase "fair disclosure wire" to find transcripts of conference calls

Business Source Premier

• To find company reports from MarketLine (and other sources), from the menu at the top of the page (left side), choose Company Profiles, then search or browse by company name (try both, the index is inexact)
• Or from the main menu, change search interface from Basic Search to Advanced Search
• Search for a company (e.g."samsung"), then specify Company Entity in the accompanying search box
• Add "SWOT" as a search term; or
• Scroll down to specify Document Type: Company report; or
• Search for company name, and add relevant keywords and phrases such as "strategic planning," or "competition," or "new product development"
• Other relevant search terms include "marketing strategy", "trends", "sales forecast", "financial performance", etc.
• Use other subject terms from relevant results to refine your search

Hoover's Company Capsules & Profiles - results from company-name searches will include Hoover's reports for competitor companies.

Mergent/Moody's Online Manuals

• An excellent source for company-specific historical research, as well as research on banking and finance, transportation, utilities and other industries
• Selected manuals date back to 1909
• Also includes municipal and government bond information, back to 1918

Private company information

PrivCo - this database focuses exclusively on private (non-publicly-traded) companies. Includes profiles of more than 900,000 companies, as well as information about private company mergers and acquisitions; private equity deals; and venture-capital funding deals.

Industry overviews and analyses

IBIS World - comprehensive market research reports on more than 700 US industries, classified at the 5-digit NAICS (North American Industrial Classification System) level.  Additionally, more than 600 “super-niche” industries are covered.  Each report is presented in a standard format that includes an industry overview, competitive landscape, operating conditions, key statistics, and industry outlook. 

Mergent Archives - Despite the similar name, the content of this database is quite different from that of Mergent Online (described above). After connecting to the database, select the link that says Search Mergent Archives. On the next page, select the top-level tab labeled First Research. From the page displayed, search by keyword or NAICS code -- or simply select your industry from the extensive list shown.

In addition to First Research industry reports, there are comprehensive Mergent Industry Reports within Mergent Archives as well. After connecting to the database, select the link that says Search Mergent Archives. On the next page, select the top-level tab labeled Industry Report. From the page displayed, search by company name to find an industry report that mentions that company -- or simply select your industry from the list shown.

Plunkett Research Online - Offers business intelligence, industry trends, statistics, market research, sales leads & corporate profiles in a variety of formats. Plunkett also provides links to a comprehensive list of associations related to each industry that it covers.  Associations can be an excellent resource for authoritative industry information.

ABI/Inform Global - In addition to articles on topics in business and management, this database includes company and industry reports.

• Change search interface from Basic to Advanced
• Search by industry name (e.g. "telecommunication"), then scroll down to specify Document type: Industry Report; or
• Search for keywords that describe your industry (or search for a specific company within an industry), then use suggested search terms (or subject terms from relevant results) to refine your search

Business Source Premier

• Change search interface from Basic Search to Advanced Search
• Search for an industry (e.g."pharmaceutical industry"), then scroll down to specify Publication Type: Industry Profile; or
• To find industry reports from MarketLine, combine the phrase "industry profile" in one search box with a relevant word or phrase (e.g. "pharmaceutical") in the next search box. To find an industry report that mentions a specific company in the industry, combine "industry  profile" with the name of a company in the industry (e.g. "Merck") -- and change the accompanying search box to All Text
• Search for company names, keywords and phrases, then use Subject terms from relevant results to refine your search for an industry.

Gartner

• Provided by TCNJ Office of Information Technology; focus is primarily on technology issues in business.

Free online sources

Market Data Center -- within WSJ.com

• After finding your company, select the "News," "Advanced Charting," or "Research & Ratings" tab for additional information
• Follow the 'Financials" tab for current financials and links to SEC filings

Yahoo! Finance

• Search by ticker or company name
• Links include SEC filings, industry reports, insider transactions, and an insider roster

 Company websites

• For current and historical financial news and filings.  Usually found under "Investor Relations", "For Investors" or "Corporate" section of site (sometimes this is buried at the bottom of the web page)
• Review SEC filings, press releases, "events" (including analyst conference calls), etc.

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) http://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/webusers.htm

• Search the full text of SEC filings such as 10Ks and others from the mid-1990s forward.  You can search across multiple companies at once, or an individual company.
• A brief tutorial on how to search the EDGAR database is available here. [Note that it may be easier to search for SEC filings from within Mergent Online (see above), or directly from a company's website.
• A guide for investors is available here. This includes details on how to search for executive compensation, insider transactions, and beneficial ownership interest.