Of the millions of business enterprises in the US, only a small number are publicly-traded, that is, companies that sell their stock to the general public. Publicly traded companies file financial reports (the 10(K), etc.) with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or with other government regulatory bodies. The rest of the business enterprises (whether they are corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships) are private companies that do not have to disclose their finances to the public. Consequently, the private companies themselves usually supply the financial data you find.
CAUTION: Determine early in your research whether the company is public or private. Go to: http://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/cik.htm The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Central Index Key (CIK): “to identify corporations and individual people who have filed disclosure with the SEC.” Link on Websites by Subject, “Publicly Traded Companies” page.
CAUTION #2: Be sure the company name you are looking for is not a brand or trade name. (Of course a brand name and a company name can be the same, i.e. Coca Cola). Otherwise companies are not listed under their brand names. Use: Brands and Their Companies Ref T223 .V4 A22
CAUTION #3: Subsidiaries, branches, divisions, etc. If you cannot find the company listed it might be a part of a larger company. Use Lexis/Nexis® Corporate Affiliations™ “Who owns Whom” Ref HG4057 .A22 (Business Reference)
CAUTION #4: Name changes, mergers and acquisitions, and those companies that have gone private or have gone “belly up”. These cannot be found. For larger public companies that no longer exist, see: Mergent Company Archives Manual Ref HG 4028 .M4 M43 (Business Reference)
Hoovers Handbook (s) Ref various call numbers . Includes descriptions.
Standard and Poor’s NetAdvantage (online service of Standard and Poor) Databases
Companies tab at top.
Thomas Register http://www.thomasnet.com/index.html
California Manufacturers Register Ref T12 .C3
Directory of California Technology Companies Ref HF5065 .C2 C28
Directory of California Wholesalers and Service Companies Ref HD9981.7 .C2 C34
Thomas Regional Industrial Buying Guide. Southern CaliforniaRef HF5065 .C2 R43
Southern California Business Directory and Buyers’ Guide Ref HF5065 .C2 S66
Ward’s Business Directory of US Private and Public Companies Databases
See ?Help; open Limit your Search, click on How to limit your Search; scroll down to Publication Dates, click on Advanced Search; then select Advanced Search Indexes by eDirectory; select Wards Directory for field to limit search by financial data, SIC, NAICS, codes, and more. Be sure to select an edition to search under “Limit the Results”.
Hoovers Company Reports DatabasesFiles for data on 40,000 Companies, both publicly-traded and private companies.
(Mergent (Moody’s) Industrials, OTC, International, Public Utilities, etc.
Ref HG49XX M(various) (Business Reference)
LEXIS/NEXIS Universe Databases
Select "Business" tab, and then "SEC Filings" from right hand column. Search by company name or ticker symbol. Choose the type of SEC report (10-K, Proxy Statements, etc.) Note also that you can sort companies with the “Dossier Create a Company List” feature from right hand column: by state combined with either Total Revenues or Total Assets.
Standard and Poor’s NetAdvantage (online service of Standard and Poor) Databases brings financial data on US companies as well as International companies listed US exchanges.
EDGAR (SEC Filings) http://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/srch-edgar,
Ticker Symbol Internet site; Global Symbol Database at:
http://www.dbc.com/cgi-bin/htx.exe/forms/lookup.html?source=core/dbc
Companies (Publicly-Traded) page on Websites by Subject, Library Home Page
http://www.csupomona.edu/~library/websites/companiespub.html
Stock Market Prices page on Websites by Subject, Library Home Page
http://www.csupomona.edu/~library/websites/stockquotes.html
Hoovers Company Reports Databases
Hoovers Private Companies Ref HG4057 .A28616
Standard and Poor’s NetAdvantage (online service of Standard and Poor) Databases
Companies tab at top. Pull down menu for private companies.
Ward’s Business Directory of US Private and Public Companies Databases
Hoovers Company Reports (includes company history) Databases
International Directory of Company Histories 60+ volumes! Ref HD2721 .I63 (Business Reference)
ABI/Inform Global; ABI/Inform Trade & Industry (for small companies) Databases
Search both through Multiple Databases link; over 2000 business periodicals.
Factiva Databases Access to 9,000 business periodicals published worldwide.
Business Full Text (Wilson Web) Databases
Some 350 essential business periodicals are included in this index; abstracts, and some full text.
Daniel Hanne
10/08
