Reference at Newman Library

Students in MGT4880 are writing papers about crises faced by multinational companies. As part of this assignment they need to collect data on the geographical and business segments of their companies over the the time before, during, and after the crisis event. The best database to use for these revenue statistics is ThomsonOne.  Students should search for their company and then use the “Fundamentals” tab (at the top of the screen).  The Reuters Fundamentals cover multiple years with data that can be downloaded to Excel. Geographical segments often include country-level as well as a regional breakout of revenues.

ThomsonOne also includes historical company filings for international companies that can help students put the financial data in context.

ThomsonOne is available from the Library’s databases page as well as the Subotnick Center.

Statista is a portal for business, government and demographic statistics and reports.  What sets this database apart from others is that it features data as infographics, samples of which can be seen at their free “Chart of the Day.” All graphs/tables can be downloaded, saved or e-mailed.

Statista gathers statistical information from over 10,000 different sources in 23 major industry sectors. Their sources include reports from market researchers, trade and scientific organizations, and government sources.  Some sources come free from the web like World Bank data and reports from the EIA and FCC and other federal agencies. Others are subscription-based sources like Gartner, IDC, and ComScore. Reports from accounting firms Deloitte and PwC are included as are analyst reports from Credit Suisse, Jeffries, Deutsche Bank and others.

Geographic coverage is worldwide with excellent resources covering the U.S. and Europe (Statista is based in Germany) and expanding content for Asia and Latin America especially Brazil, India, and China.

Statista also aggregates data from multiple sources in company and industry Dossiers.  These are lengthy reports (some are 70 or more pages) in PPT and are free for download. They cover both U.S. and international companies and markets. Have a look at the company dossier on Apple  or the industry dossier on Beer Production and Distribution for example.

All graphs/tables come with “Reading Support” that explains the numbers, cites the source, and links directly to the source where available. Data can be downloaded to Excel, in JPG format or as a Powerpoint.

The big Goggle-like search box works well. Search results can be filtered by region or type of data (for example, rankings, forecasts or time series). Results can be sorted by date or by relevance. Browsing by category or keyword is available by clicking on the “Markets” tab. Opening up a “Category” will give direct access to data and reports on that industry category as well as a search box for searching within that category.

I’d especially recommend this database for students doing industry research because of its wide coverage of specialized industry research sources.

Students in MGT4880 will be researching the shale gas industry again this semester. The teams will focus on shale gas development in countries outside the United States. Outside the U.S., shale gas is often called unconventional gas and some databases like Business Monitor use that industry name.  I met with this class on Wednesday to introduce them to our databases and  I have posted a Shale Gas Industry guide on the Library Guides page.

Both Guidestar and the Foundation Center post the IRS 990 forms for non-profits. Non-profits must file with the IRS on the 15^th of the 5^th month following their fiscal year end, so for December year-end, they file on May 15^th. BUT there is a considerable lag in getting the forms online.  Here is what the Foundation Center says about how long it takes for the reports to make it to their website:

In most instances, the time between filing Form 990s and posting them on the Center’s Web site is 5-7 months. We receive the latest Forms 990-PF from the IRS every few weeks and add them to our collection, accessible through our various databases.

However, the total lag time between the end of a foundation’s fiscal year and the point when its IRS filing is publicly available can be anywhere from 12 to 18 months. Foundations have 4 1/2 months to file, and they can request filing extensions. Also, not all foundations end their fiscal year on December 31.

You can see when a foundation usually files its return by looking at “Date Received” stamp on past years’ returns. This filing pattern may help you estimate when a funder’s latest IRS filing will be publicly available online.

So what are your options if the current reports are not online?  First, I’d check the website of  the non-profit you are researching to see if they have posted the 990 form.

You could also make a request in person or in writing. According to IRS disclosure regulations, exempt organizations must make their three most recently filed annual 990 or 990-PF returns and all related supporting documents available for public inspection. Requests made in person must be fulfilled immediately, or within 30 days for a written request, with no charge other than a reasonable fee to cover photocopying and mailing expenses.

This December the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis added a collection of IMF data to its database of U.S. and international economic time series, FRED.  The data includes 399 financial statistics and monetary aggregates including interest rates, exchange rates, and measures of M1, M2, and M3.

Students will like this resource because of its easy to use interface. The data opens in a graph with options to download or view the underlying data or to save the graph as a pdf.

This data from the IMF is not free elsewhere but can be found in Datastream and in the paper copies of the IMF’s International Financial Statistics Yearbook (at REF HG 61 .I57)

Students in one of the BPL5100 classes are looking for ten year trends for their company financial analysis. Several databases include historical ratio data:

Mergent Online – under the Company Financials tab

Edgar Online – click the green arrow for Ratios on the company page

MSN Money – KeyFinancial Ratios – Under the Fundamentals tab

The New York Public Library and the libraries of Columbia University and New York University have announced the formation of a new collaboration,called the Manhattan Research Library Initiative, or MaRLI.  The press release says, in part, that -

MaRLI will enable NYU and Columbia PhD students and faculty, as well as scholars whose work is based at NYPL, to check out materials from all three libraries, a first step to improve access to collections among the three institutions.  The model is a departure from NYPL’s historical practice, whereby research materials have not been allowed to circulate.

New York Public Library users unaffiliated with NYU or CU can obtain borrowing privileges by demonstrating that they have exhausted the available resources for their projects and need sustained access to the resources of the three institutions.  A research consultation with an NYPL librarian and a completed form are required.

Read the full press release here.

The Stat Abstract has arrived and is online too. They have added new tables including  g g ones on earthquakes in the U.S., cyber-bullying and financial crimes. There are also many new tables covering data from the Economic Census.  A list of all the new tables is available.

If you are monitoring the nuclear crisis  in Japan and developments at the Fukushima plant, here are two websites that offer readable reports from the scientific community:

IAEA Update on Japan Earthquake. From the International Atomic Energy Commission.

MIT NSE Nuclear Information Hub. From the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering at MIT.

Students in one of the BPL5100 classes I met with last week asked for industry-specific guides. Until I can develop some, I have added a page of industry resources to the BPL5100 Guide. These are the industries that are included: automobiles, oil and gas, lodging, restaurants, freight & logistics, pharmaceuticals, retailing and telecommunications.