Lesson 1: Locating Basic U.S. Company Information
Objectives
In this lesson, you will learn to:
- Use the EXPAND command to find basic U.S. company information
- Find detailed financial data on a U.S. company
- Identify databases containing factual and financial data on companies
Introduction
One of the most frequent requests in business research is "Find me everything you can on Company X." This very broad and unfocused request can be managed by breaking it down to the components of a company profile. For our purposes in this lesson, we will be looking at:
- Basic Company Information: Location, size, business description, company history, product range, sales figures, and company management, to name several key data.
- Financials: Balance sheet, profit and loss statements, capitalization, financial analysis, operating ratios, and credit worthiness. Tip 1-1
Finding this type of information is relatively easy if the company is a publicly-traded U.S. company, but it can be difficult if the company is private or not a U.S. company. Private companies in the U.S. are not required to disclose information to either national or state regulatory commissions.
Our researcher, Chris, has received the following request for information. In this lesson, Chris will lead us through his techniques step-by-step as he obtains the information needed to fill this query.
Let's see Chris in action...
Chris —
Apple Computer seems to be rebounding in 1999 from its earlier faltering. Get as much factual data on the company as you can. I am especially interested in its financials and how this year's performance compares with last year's.
Thx.
Bev
There are some things I need to consider before conducting Bev's search query online. In this lesson, I will show you the process I would go through to prepare for and conduct this search online.
So, let's begin.
Go to the next page to see my first step.
