Sept. 4, 2024 – You need to research a company or business but run into a snag: Most databases that provide business and marketing information are by subscription only.
For example, many of the Bloomberg products such as Bloomberg Law’s Business Intelligence Center & Bloomberg Professional and Lexis Intelligize, or business databases such as Hoovers, S&P Capital IQ, and the news resource, Business Premier – to name a few – are by subscription.
But if you are looking for free or cheaper resources that provide company information, there are resources where you can find reliable corporate information quickly.
Where to Begin
One great place to begin a business research project is on the company’s website, especially if it is a public entity. Public company homepages provide investor relations information for stockholders to browse. These sites include links to their annual reports, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, biographical information on executives, stock information, company strategies, and news releases.
However, locating financial information on a company website is not always obvious, because many company homepages are densely populated with graphics, videos, and promotions of the products they sell. The real estate of the homepage is devoted to their marketing strategy rather than providing company financial information.
Locating Company Financials on a Company's Website
Once you are on a company’s website using a search engine, browse the page for a tab or link titled “Investor Relations” or an “About.” You may have to scroll the page to find this information.
As an example, Wisconsin-based Harley-Davidson places the link to its
investor relations page at the bottom of their homepage, under “About Us” on the right-hand side. The investment page links to a treasure trove of financial documents and government filings.
Finding Negative News on a Company: Newspaper Resources
However, there is one thing you will rarely find on a company’s website: negative press. Legal proceedings, lawsuits, and bad news items don’t make it to the front of a company homepage.
Genevieve Zook is the reference & instructional services librarian at the U.W. Law Library. She is currently chair of the Public Relations Committee and past president of the
Law Librarians Association of Wisconsin, a chapter of the American Association of Law Libraries.
You will have to use other sources to find this type of information.
To check for negative information, try a newspaper database. One free resource that is available to all Wisconsin residents is
Badgerlink, Wisconsin's Online Library. Badgerlink provides access to many Wisconsin newspapers.
If you seek more information than what is provided on Badgerlink, you can check out the business resources at a public library.
Public libraries provide newspaper databases – to gain access to these powerful business news databases, simply obtain a library card from your local public library.
Madison Public Library’s business newspaper online resources include Business News Premier, EPSCOhost, and Reference Solutions (formerly Refence USA).
For a list of Madison’s public library’s databases, see its
Business Resources Guides page. Milwaukee Public Library’s business resources are located
on its Business Research page.
Social media sites such as
LinkedIn can also be a good source for company information, including executive biographical information. Facebook and YouTube may also have company information, but these sites are less reliable.
Government Resources: The 10K
The
EDGAR advanced search page from the SEC provides a searchable database of company filings where you can quickly locate a company’s Form 10K. The 10K is the company’s annual report filing, where you can search for company risk factors, legal proceedings, future trends, financial climate, competitors, and the biographies of its officers and directors.
The EDGAR database also offers full-text and refining features. For refining features check the left-hand side of the screen. Using these tools, you can search for principal executives by location or quickly shift through filings to locate a specific form such as 8K filings, a proxy or a quarterly report.
For more information on what forms are filed with the SEC, the SEC
provides a forms index. You can also find no-action letters and litigation releases
under the tab for Rules, Enforcement and Compliance on the SEC page.
If you are interested in Wisconsin corporations, you can use the
Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions corporate records search page.
Library Guides and Database Access
If you can visit the University of Wisconsin business library in Madison, you have access to the
database resources listed in the Business Libraries guide. The databases are listed alphabetically on the homepage of the guide, and there is a subject guide on the right-hand side of the screen that will help you locate databases by subtopic. Each subject tab provides a description of the resources and links to "best bet" databases. The guide also includes additional resources under "also helpful" in each category.
A few databases of note available at the U.W.-Madison business library, with descriptions provided by the business library staff, include (login required):
PitchBook– features real-time data to research and analyze private and public companies, startup trends, private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) financing deals, VC and PE investment funds, investors, and service providers across the entire private investment lifecycle.
Data-Planet Statistical Datasets (Conquest Systems, Inc.) provides simple and refined searching of the Data-Planet repository of standardized and structured statistical data. Subjects include banking, finance and insurance, including flow of funds (z.1); energy resources and demand; industry and commerce; international; population and income; prices and cost of living; stocks and commodities; and more. Users can search and view charts, maps, and rankings of time series at the country, state, county, MSA, postal code, and census-tract/block group levels (dates vary).
MarketLine provides company profiles, industry reports, financial deal reports, and country reports, and contains case studies. Industry profiles include Porter’s Five Forces.
Mintel Academic provides in-depth reports from 2001-present that analyze market size and segmentation, consumer attitudes, and marketing strategies relative to hundreds of consumer products in the U.S. Lifestyle reports such as “Green Marketing” and “Spending Habits of the Teen Consumer” are also available. New reports are issued monthly.
Library Research Guides Beyond Wisconsin
If you are researching a company beyond Wisconsin’s borders, nearby university libraries provide business and corporate resource guides that can help you locate out-of-state company information, and will usually also link you to government resources in their state.
Here are a few border-state library guides:
Please note that access to a private university library is not guaranteed, but many libraries do allow visitors and public universities provide the community with access. If you are unsure if you have access, before you visit, call the reference desk at the library to check their policies.
Boost Your Research with Help from a Law Librarian
Don’t forget that a librarian can efficiently direct you to trusted legal practice materials. Reach out and ask your local law librarian for help with your research, or at these Wisconsin libraries:
Finding Legal Research Tips for Your Practice Area
Members of the Law Librarians Association of Wisconsin (LLAW), a chapter of the American Association of Law Libraries, have written legal research columns for
InsideTrack for more than a decade (thank you!). These are a great resource that can quickly boost your research.
To find their columns, search on WisBar.org “legal research”, “legal research 101”, or “legal research” and the practice area, such as “legal research estate planning.”
