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Accounting Resources
Table of Contents:

Accounting Standards
  • International Financial Reporting Standards and International Accounting Standards Board
    The IFRS Foundation, the oversight body of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB),is an independent, not-for-profit private sector organisation working in the public interest. Its principal objectives are:
    • to develop a single set of high quality, understandable, enforceable and globally accepted international financial reporting standards (IFRSs) through its standard-setting body, the IASB;
    • to promote the use and rigorous application of those standards; to take account of the financial reporting needs of emerging economies and small and medium-sized entities (SMEs);
    • to bring about convergence of national accounting standards and IFRSs to high quality solutions.
Accounting Terminology, Acronyms, Dictionaries,


Professional Accounting Associations

How to Read a Financial Report
  • Find Books about Financial Statements
    • Library Catalog
      Search with the Library Catalog to find books, journals, etc. owned by the library. Search by keyword, subject, title, or author for materials on your topic.
      • Use Subject Term: Financial Statements
Find Books on Corporate Accounting and Auditing Standards and Disclosure in Accounting.
  • Library Catalog
    Search with the Library Catalog to find books, journals, etc. owned by the library. Search by keyword, subject, title, or author for materials on your topic.
    • Use Subject Term:
      • Public Company Accounting Oversight Board -- Rules and practice.
      • United States. Securities and Exchange Commission -- Rules and practice.
      • Corporations -- Accounting -- Standards -- United States.
      • Auditing, Internal -- United States.
      • Disclosure in accounting -- Compliance costs -- United States.
Find Corporate Financial Reports
Use the following resources when conducting an internal analysis. Locate relevant information about a company's strengths and weaknesses.
  • Find corporate annual reports for publicly held corporations:
    • Mergent Online Authentication Required
      Profiles of public corporations around the world that includes summaries, company histories, property, financials, subsdiaries, joint ventures, long term, press release and historical annual reports.
      • To get a .pdf copy of the annual report to shareholders, choose the Reports tab, then the year.

    • SEC: Corporate filings from the US Securities and Exchange Commission
      The SEC requires all public companies (except foreign companies and companies with less than $10 million in assets and 500 shareholders) to file registration statements, periodic reports, and other forms electronically through this site (formerly called EDGAR). Anyone can access and download this information for free. Here you'll find links to a complete list of filings available from the SEC and instructions for searching the SEC database.
    • Locate the company's Web site
      You can usually find the company's Web site by searching for www.companyname.com If that doesn't work, try going to Google at http://www.google.com and typing in the company's name.
  • Some Research Problems You May Face:
    • Is the company publicly-held or is it privately owned?
      • Corporate Affiliations Authentication Required
        The Libraries' subscription to this database has been cancelled. An alternative resource for corporate ownership structure information is Orbis .

        The access to the Corporate Affiliations Historical Data Files (1993-2015) remain available to researchers for downloading. Please send your request for access to this data to: busref@umn.edu. Data set field descriptions are also available.

Find Financial Ratios for the Industry
    • Key Business Ratios Authentication Required
      Key Business Ratios, from Dun and Bradstreet, help you to assess how a business is doing compared to an industry or a competitor. The 14 key business ratios cover the critical areas of business performance --solvency, efficiency and profitability. They are broken down into median figures, with upper and lower quartiles. Ratios are arranged by Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Codes -a four-digit number that classifies business establishments by defining the industries in which they do business.
    • Bizminer Authentication Required
      BizMiner offers industry financial analysis benchmarks for over 5,000 lines of business and industry market trends on thousands more. Their market analysis reports are available at the national and local levels down to the zip code. Bizminer is a great resource to use when developing business plans, or for any sort of entrepreneurship initiatives where you need to measure peer performance in an industry.
Examples Representative of Financial Reporting
  • Accounting trends & techniques.
    Annual publication of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) containing a survey of the accounting and disclosure characteristics of corporate annual reports. It gives examples representative of financial reporting by 600 sampled companies (e.g., their treatment of leases and business combinations). Financial statistics are also given.

    Accounting trends & techniques.
    New York : American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, 1962-
    Annual
    Subject LC : Financial statements -- Periodicals.
    Corporation reports -- Periodicals.
    • Location(s): TC Wilson Library Quarto HF5681.B2 A35 Non-Circulating

    • Location(s): TC Wilson Library Quarto HF5681.B2 A35 Non-Circulating
    • Check MNCAT Record for Location and Availability

Accounting History
  • Global History of Accounting

    • A global history of accounting, financial reporting and public policy : Americas.
      Published Bingley, UK : Emerald, 2011.
      Series Studies in the development of accounting thought; v. 14B.
      Availability TC Wilson Library HF5616.N7 G59 2011 Regular Loan

    • A global history of accounting, financial reporting and public policy : Asia and Oceania.
      Published Bingley, UK : Emerald, 2011.
      Series Studies in the development of accounting thought; v. 14C.
      Availability TC Wilson Library HF5616.A78 G56 2011 Regular Loan

    • A global history of accounting, financial reporting and public policy : Europe.
      Published Bingley, UK : Emerald, published with the support of the University of Sydney, 2010.
      Series Studies in the development of accounting thought; 14A.
      Availability TC Wilson Library HF5616.E85 G56 2010 Regular Loan

  • Digital Accounting Collection
    The Digital Accounting Collection at the University of Missippi is composed of several discrete collections. The "Accounting Pamphlets Collection– Bibliographic Citations Only" containing over 33,000 references, indexes the pamphlets, brochures and newsletters that the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants' library collected from 1918 to 2000. The AICPA Library has an agreement with the University of Mississippi which allows digitization and display of older AICPA materials.

    The other collections are full text searchable. The "Accounting Pamphlets Collection - Full Text " is a small, but growing, collection of full text materials culled from the "Bibliographic Citations Only Collection." Currently, the "Accounting Pamphlets Collection - Full Text" features pamphlets from the early twentieth century which were published as practical guides to bookkeepers in various industries and organizations.

    The Academy of Accounting Historians has kindly given permission to publish the Accounting Historians Journal and the Accounting Historians Notebook. Complete runs of both periodicals, save the last (embargoed) year, are now available.

    The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants has given permission to post the full text of all their noncurrent exposure drafts. Finally, a small collection of accounting art provides an entertaining glimpse into accounting through the ages.

Identify Companies within an Industry -- Identify Competitors
  • Mergent Online Authentication Required
    Mergent Online contains information about public corporations around the world. Mergent also includes the full-text image files of corporate annual reports for publicly traded US and foreign corporations going back to 1996. EDGAR filings are also available through Mergent. Our University of Minnesota license allows 6 simultaneous users.
    To get a list of publicly traded companies in an industry, find your SIC code, then choose the Advanced Search option in Mergent. Open the Category box and choose Industry Codes. Type your SIC code in the values box, add the search string to the Search Criteria box, press Run Search to generate a list of public companies in the industry. (Off-site access is available only for students, staff, faculty of the University of Minnesota).
  • Mergent Intellect Authentication Required
    Mergent Intellect provides access to private and public U.S. and international business data, industry news, facts and figures, executive contact information, the ability to access industry profiles and much more. It also provides access to contact information for over 250 million U.S. consumers using WhitePages Pro data.
  • Hoovers Authentication Required
    Includes company and industry information such as ownership,contact information, business descriptions, locations, history, competitors, employment statistics, sales, Fortune 500 rankings, product lines, SIC and NAICS industry codes, executives and other financial information. Note: Downloading and printing are not available.

    Access does not work via a mobile device or tablet.

History of the Corporation
Use this library guide to find resources that will help you find out about the company's history.
  • Mergent Online Authentication Required
    Profiles of public corporations around the world that includes summaries, company histories, property, financials, subsdiaries, joint ventures, long term, press release and historical annual reports.
  • Mergent WebReports Authentication Required
    Documents covering public corporations in over 100 countries. MergentWeb contains all the historical information recorded in Moody's Manuals dating back to the early 1900s. This archive is an excellent source of corporate history, business descriptions and financial statements.
  • ProQuest Historical Annual Reports Authentication Required
    Database offers corporate annual reports for U.S. companies from 1884 to the present. Key data (financial, Fortune 500 ranking, industry classification, key people, geographic location, auditor, and related companies) are indexed in the citation and can be searched. Reports can be browsed by company name, industry or date. Cross-searchable to other historical periodical databases.
  • MarketLine Reports Authentication Required
    Industry reports and company profiles cover key facts, history, employees, major products, revenue analysis, SWOT analysis, top competitors, locations and subsidiaries. Industry Reports include analysis, market size, market share, forecasts, segmentation, and leading companies. Access via Business Source Premier
  • International Directory of Company Histories Authentication Required
    This 100+ volume set offers extensive histories on hundreds of global companies. Use the index in the last volume to find your company listing.
    • Location(s): Set is located in Wilson Reference Quarto HD2721 .N68x.

    • Location(s):
Find Financial Analysts Reports About the Company
  • Investext (Mergent Online) Authentication Required
    Use this database to find full text of reports and forecasts prepared by top Wall Street and international brokerage firms. (Available off-site only to students, faculty, and staff of the U of M unless accessing from a U of M campus library.) This is a set of security analysts reports available to you off-site. There is at least a two week embargo period, so the reports are not the most current reports available. Check Multexnet for more up-to-date information.
  • Value line investment survey (Online)
    The Value Line Investment Survey is a comprehensive source of information and advice on approximately 1,700 stocks, more than 90 industries, the stock market, and the economy. It has three parts: The Ratings & Reports section contains one-page reports showing Value Line's Timeliness, Safety, and Technical ranks, financial and stock price forecasts for the coming 3 to 5 years, an analyst's written commentary, and more. The Summary & Index contains an index of all stocks in the publication as well as many up-to-date statistics. It also contains a variety of stock "screens" designed to help investors identify companies with various characteristics. The Selection & Opinion section contains Value Line's latest economic and stock market forecasts, one-page write-ups about interesting and attractive stocks, model portfolios, and financial and stock market statistics.
    Also available in print in Wilson Library Reference, at: HG4501 .V262
    Older issues are available on microfiche in Wilson Library Reference at the class number shown above.
    • Location(s): TC Wilson Library Reference Quarto HG4501 .V262
    • Check MNCAT Record for Location and Availability
  • Value Line investment survey (Small & Mid-Cap edition)
    The small and mid-cap editions (formerly the Expanded Edition) of Value Line investment survey covers 1800 stocks which are smaller and more volatile than those covered in the standard edition. The small and mid-cap edition does not include analyst commentaries. A key feature of this edition is the performance rank which is adapted from the timeliness rank. Both ranks are designed to predict a stock's relative price/performance for the next 6-12 months. Available in PRINT in Wilson Reference.
    Location(s): TC Wilson Library Reference Quarto HG4501 .V262 Non-Circulating

    • Location(s): TC Wilson Library Reference Quarto HG4501 .V262 Non-Circulating
    • Check MNCAT Record for Location and Availability
  • MarketLine Reports Authentication Required
    Industry reports and company profiles cover key facts, history, employees, major products, revenue analysis, SWOT analysis, top competitors, locations and subsidiaries. Industry Reports include analysis, market size, market share, forecasts, segmentation, and leading companies. Access via Business Source Premier
Find Industry Profiles: Sources to Help You Analyze Industries
  • NetAdvantage by S&P Global Authentication Required
    Overviews, rankings and comparative statistics for major industries that provides detailed information on public companies such as stock reports, bonds, stock valuation annual reports, and other detailed fianancial statistics. NetAdvantage also includes investment services such as the advisory newsletter Outlook and screening directories for stocks, bonds and mutual funds. There are also directories for private companies and the Register of Corporations, Directors, and Executives

    Subscription cancelled effective November 27, 2018.

  • IBIS World Authentication Required
    Industry reports for the United States, Canada, China, and selected global topics. Each reports provide overviews, leading companies, sales information, and authoritative sources for researching hundreds of industries. Includes Business Environmental Profiles that summarize key drivers for industries in the U.S.
  • Value Line Investment Survey Authentication Required
    The Value Line Investment Survey is a comprehensive source of information and advice on approximately 1,700 stocks, more than 90 industries, the stock market, and the economy. It has three parts: The Ratings & Reports section contains one-page reports showing Value Line's Timeliness, Safety, and Technical ranks, financial and stock price forecasts for the coming 3 to 5 years, an analyst's written commentary, and more. The Summary & Index contains an index of all stocks in the publication as well as many up-to-date statistics. It also contains a variety of stock "screens" designed to help investors identify companies with various characteristics. The Selection & Opinion section contains Value Line's latest economic and stock market forecasts, one-page write-ups about interesting and attractive stocks, model portfolios, and financial and stock market statistics.

    Guide for finding industry reports in the Value Line Investment Surveys


    • Location(s): WILSON Reference Quarto HG4501 .V26

  • Mintel Market Research Authentication Required
    Mintel reports provide market research on consumer products, services, and lifestyles to identify economic drivers, leading companies, market share, market size, trends, segmentation, and analysis of consumer attitudes and purchasing habits. The library subscription includes Mintel Trends to analyze consumer trends by sectors, demographics, themes and regions.
Find Journal or Magazine Articles on Corporations, Industries, Financial Accounting
  • Business Source Premier Authentication Required
    Use this popular research database to find business articles from 2,200 journals and magazines in marketing, management, information technology, operations, human resources, accounting, finance and economics dating back to 1965. Additional company and industry profiles from Datamonitor are included along with country reports and SWOT analyses.
  • Factiva Authentication Required
    Full text articles and transcripts from news sources, business magazines, and websites with international and foreign language coverage. Includes daily newspapers, television transcripts, newswires, and all editions of the Wall Street Journal. Financial information for publicly traded companies, stocks, funds, currencies, and common market indexes. Limited to 7 simultaneous users.
  • ProQuest Global Newsstream Authentication Required
    Global Newsstream enables users to search the most recent global news content, as well as archives which stretch back into the 1980s featuring content from newspapers, newswires, and news sites in active full-text format. Provides access to news from the United States, Canada, Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Australia.
Find Journal Articles on Accounting, Government Oversight, Business Law, Taxation
  • Hein Online Authentication Required
    Full-text legal periodicals database with browse and full-text search features. Includes coverage of many older legal periodicals not available in electronic format elsewhere.
University of Minnesota Business Library Web Site

Page Coordinator: Mary E. Schoenborn hawki003@tc.umn.edu
This URL: http://www.lib.umn.edu/libdata/page.phtml?page_id=4215

 

 

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