Company Research

1.  When researching a company, it is important to know if it is publicly owned, a subsidiary or division of a larger company, foreign owned, or if it is privately held.  Once you know the kind of company you are researching, it will be easier to choose the databases most likely to have the information you need.

A company that has issued securities through an initial public offering and is traded on a stock exchange is defined as a public company.   Every public company must publish an annual shareholders' report and file financial disclosure documents with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.  Public companies are usually the easiest to research.  

Subsidiaries and divisions of public companies can be difficult to research because the parent company is not required to report details about such entities in their annual reports or SEC filings.

Foreign-owned companies can be difficult to research.  A small number of large international companies are traded on U.S. stock exchanges and usually present few problems. However, locating information about those with limited markets outside their home country will require more effort. 

Privately held companies are not required to release information about themselves to the public and, therefore, are often a challenge to research.

A good place to confirm or discover a company's status is a business directory .

2.  Companies may be in the news if they are performing extremely well, if they want PR, or if they are having problems.  Companies that are involved with consumer products or services are more likely to attract news coverage than those with industrial products.  Large publicly owned companies are more likely to be covered by news sources simply because information is easier to obtain.  A newsworthy small company may be covered by local or regional press, but rarely in national news sources. Privately held companies usually shun the spotlight. 

• Executive Pay Watch database.

  CEO compensation data was obtained from proxy statements filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for the latest fiscal years. It includes data for some 3,000 corporations, including most of those listed in the Russell 3000 Index. The compensation year reported on the website denotes the fiscal year as reported in the proxy statements. The data is updated, usually monthly, throughout the year. Industry classifications are based on Standard Industrial Classification codes obtained from proxy statements.

• Mergent Online

  Search for a company by name or ticker symbol. Click on 'Filings' to view Annual Reports & 10Ks, which will contain information on the company's organizational structure.

• The National Council on Compensation Insurance

  The National Council on Compensation Insurance is the rating agency for 30 states.

• Non-Profit Organizations - Executive Compensation Dataset Use this dataset to create your own report on nonprofit executive compensation. Includes salary, benefits, and other compensation data for individuals listed on 475,050 Forms 990, 990-EZ, or 990-PF electronically filed for TY 2017, 2018, or 2019. Covers officers, directors, trustees, key employees, and highest compensated employees. Free, with attribution, for non-commercial use. Download the dataset (2 csv files), license, and documentation.
   
• Occupational Outlook Handbook - Department of Labor (USA)

  This gov. site can help you find career information on duties, education and training, pay, and outlook for hundreds of occupations.

• Occupation Profile, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor

  Learn details about any occupation including what you might do on the job, how much you might earn, and how much education or training you might need.

• The Official Board

  It has organizational charts for the world's 20,000 largest corporations. View corporations by industry, country, or alphabetically. Two types of membership: free - with limited viewing, or premium - with unlimited viewing.

• Opencorporates

• PayScale

  Find out how much the pay scale is by job nature, employer, degree or school.

• Salary.com

  Find out how much the Executives are paid in a corporation

• White Papers by Economic Research Institute

  ERI maintains several fee-based databases, tracking wage and salary information (as well as cost of living information) for the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and many European Union members. Data for each country is maintained separately.

• Workers' Compensation by The National Academy of Social Insurance

  The National Academy of Social Insurance issues the "Workers’ Compensation: Benefits, Coverage, and Costs," report annually but the most current year is 2013

• The Workers Compensation Research Institute

  The Workers Compensation Research Institute is an independent, not-for-profit research organization providing information about public policy issues involving workers' compensation systems.

• Workforce Vitality Report by ADP