Research Guides: BUS 305 Principles of Finance (Graham): BUS 305 Principles of Finance (Graham)

Financial Data

Mergent Online
Detailed company information including 15 years of financial statements.

On Campus Link
Nexis Uni
Replaces LexisNexis Academic.

More than 15,000 news, business, and legal sources from LexisNexis—including U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1790.

National and regional newspapers, wire services, broadcast transcripts, international news, and non-English language sources.

U.S. Federal and state case law, codes, regulations, legal news, law reviews, and international legal information.

Shepard’s Citations for all U.S. Supreme Court cases back to 1789.

Business news journals, company financial information, SEC filings and reports, and industry and market news.

On Campus Link

Ratios

Mergent Online
Once you are on the main information screen for a particular company, the ratios will be under Company Financials > Analysis > Ratio Analysis

On Campus Link
Nexis Uni
To get to ratios, use the pull down menu at the top of the start page to select Company Dossiers. Type in your company name, and click on it in the search results. Once you are on the main information page for a company, the ratios will be under Financial Overview > Ratio Analysis

National and regional newspapers, wire services, broadcast transcripts, international news, and non-English language sources.

U.S. Federal and state case law, codes, regulations, legal news, law reviews, and international legal information.

Shepard’s Citations for all U.S. Supreme Court cases back to 1789.

Business news journals, company financial information, SEC filings and reports, and industry and market news.

On Campus Link
IBISWorld
Once you are on the information overview screen for an industry, the ratios will be under Key Statistics > Industry Financial Ratios. Find Key Statistics on the left side of the screen.

Classifying Industry Reports at the 5-digit North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), IBISWorld Industry Reports are at the granular level covering industry-specific titles from the popular to the not so popular. Each Industry Report is some 35-50 pages in length with abridged, 6-page Executive Summaries also available.

On-Campus Link

MSN Money
In the middle of the screen, use the Quote Search to search for your company's name or ticker symbol. Then, click Analysis to view a number of ratios on financial health, growth, and other criteria. Also view your company's ratios with its industry ratios to compare your company to industry benchmarks.

RMA Annual Statement Studies: Financial Ratio Benchmarks
ISBN: 1570703507
Includes financial statistics and ratios, as well as comparative historical data and current data ranked by sales. Latest copy kept at the Reference Desk.
Almanac of Business and Industrial Financial Ratios by Leo Troy
Latest copy kept at the Reference Desk.
Business Ratios and Formulas by Bragg, Steven M.
ISBN: 9781118169964
This book lists and describes common business ratios and how to calculate them.

SWOT Analyses

Business Source Complete
On the main search screen, use the Browse menu on the right. Select SWOT Analyses, then type in your company's name or use the alphabetical list.

In addition to the searchable cited references provided for more than 1,200 journals, Business Source Complete contains detailed author profiles for the 25,000 most-cited authors in the database. Journal ranking studies reveal that Business Source Complete is the overwhelmingly superior database for full text journals in all disciplines of business, including marketing, management, MIS, POM, accounting, finance and economics.

Additional full text, non-journal content includes financial data, books, monographs, major reference works, book digests, conference proceedings, case studies, investment research reports, industry reports, market research reports, country reports, company profiles, SWOT analyses and more.

On Campus Link

An Essential Guide to SWOT Analysis
Written by Justin Gomer and Jackson Hille, this excellent guide explains what a SWOT analysis is, what SWOT actually stands for, why SWOT analyses are important, and how to do one yourself!
SWOT Analysis Template from businessballs.com
This is just one example of the criteria you can list in a SWOT analysis. This template can help you create your own SWOT analysis of a company.

Analyst Reports and Commentary

Because these reports are written for investors, you'll only find them for public companies.

Nexis Uni
Once you are on the main information page for a company, analyst reports will be on the left under Investment Research > Analyst Reports, and also Zacks Investment Research.

National and regional newspapers, wire services, broadcast transcripts, international news, and non-English language sources.

U.S. Federal and state case law, codes, regulations, legal news, law reviews, and international legal information.

Shepard’s Citations for all U.S. Supreme Court cases back to 1789.

Business news journals, company financial information, SEC filings and reports, and industry and market news.

On Campus Link
Mergent Online
Once you are on the home screen for your company, click the Company Reports tab, and then click the link underneath that for Company Reports. The reports listed are analyst reports, some brief, others longer. Download to view.

On Campus Link

Analyzing Analyst Recommendations
This article will explain some of the basics of what you can find in an analyst report, and why this information is important for company research.

Annual Reports and SEC Filings

EDGAR Company Filings
This is the web site of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In the US, public companies must file information with the SEC. A 10-K is the annual filing a company must make. Search by company name (or part of a name), ticker symbol, or search by industry to create a list of companies. If you find reports in EDGAR, that means the company is public.

Mergent Online
Detailed company information including 15 years of financial statements.

On Campus Link

Citing Your Sources

Whenever you do research, you will need to cite the information sources that you use. Most business scholars use APA style. Here are some tools that can help you with this task:

APA 7th Edition Citations for Business Sources
An excellent guide to using APA 7th edition style for popular business sources. Scroll through the guide to find an example for the business source you are using in your research. Compiled by librarians Naomi Schemm, Marcia Dellenbach, Zachary Grisham, Marianne Hageman, Natalia Tingle, Matt Trowbridge, and Amanda Wheatley
Citing Business Databases in APA: Michigan State University Guide
This guide was created to help with citing some common business databases
Citing Business Databases from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro
This guide has some additional business database examples in APA style.
MLA Business Citations: Youngstown State University
Scroll down the page to see citations for specific business web sites, reports, and databases cited in MLA style.
Purdue OWL
Our favorite style guide web site is the OWL from Purdue University.

RefWorks
RefWorks allows users to create personal databases to manage, store, and share the information citations/references. Users can automatically insert references from their database into their papers and generate formatted bibliographies and manuscripts in seconds. Create an account using your USF email address.

Create an account using your USF email address.

If you do not want to use your USF email address:

on campus: create an account with any email address.
off campus: use the link above and this invitation code: 5951-1639
Please note, even though you will be prompted for a "university email address," you may enter any email address.

(You can still use the Old RefWorks) Group Code: RWUSanFrancisco

New RefWorks Guide
Legacy RefWorks Guide

How to Get Help!

There are several ways to obtain assistance with your research. Read on!

The School of Management has a library liaison named Penny Scott, and you can contact her for help.

Her contact information is: email: plscott@usfca.edu : phone: 415-422-5389 : office location: Gleeson Library 100.

It is best to call or email ahead, or make an appointment, to make sure she is available!

If Penny is not available, or any time you need help, you can always get help, just Ask a Librarian!

Gleeson Library

BUS 305 Principles of Finance (Graham)

Reference Librarian/Business Liaison

Penny's Office Hours Fall 2020