When looking for information on a Business or a Corporation, start with a few databases to gather quick financial and contact information to get an overall view of the company.
Chambers of Commerce: Find local businesses in a particular field or find contact information of a known business.
http://mochamber.com (Missouri & Links to Local Chapters)
http://www.newmellechamber.com/ (New Melle)
http://www.ofallonchamber.org/(O’Fallon)
http://www.stcharleschamber.org/ (St. Charles)
http://www.stpeterschamber.com/home/index.html (St. Peters)
http://www.wentzvillechamber.com/ (Wentzville)
US Small Business Administration
Search for small businesses, veteran and women owned businesses in a specified area.
http://dsbs.sba.gov/dsbs/search/dsp_quicksearch.cfm
Dunn & Bradstreet Million Dollar Directory: (Need Library Card to Use)
A Directory of Businesses that includes exact number of employees, sales figures, ownership, executive contact information and More.
http://www.youranswerplace.org/business-and-nonprofit
ZoomInfo (formerly Eliyon Technologies):
Search by executive or company name.
http://www.zoominfo.com/
Hoover's Online Pro: (In Library Use Only)
Detailed financial and executive biographies on more than 40,000 companies.
http://www.youranswerplace.org/business-and-nonprofit
Secretary of State Database:
Look up companies that are registered with its local SOS office, many provide access to their annual reports.
http://www.statelocalgov.net/50states-secretary-state.cfm (National)
https://www.sos.mo.gov/BusinessEntity/soskb/csearch.asp (Missouri)
http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/business_services/corp.html (Illinois)
Sorkins: (In Library Use Only)
Comprehensive business directory (St. Louis Only), which lists contact information, key executives, and a short biography of the company.
(658.009) SP, KL, MK, CP, DR, KR, MY, NC, BT
Tip: Make sure to check the Web to see if the company has its own WebPage.
WhoIs: Search by corporation name
http://www.whois.sc/
Google: General web search engine, search by corporation name
http://www.google.com
Note: Public companies must file annual reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and is available for public review.
The important filings to look for are the "10-K" which is the annual report, and the "DEF-14A" (proxy statements). Proxy statements are VERY long, but contain useful information such as salaries and stock holding information.
SEC: Raw Data Filing
http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml
Annual Reports Service:
Another way to retrieve a company's annual report. Must sign-up with Website to use.
http://www.annualreportservice.com
Mergent: Search Annual Reports and SEC filings (Must Have a Library Card to Use)
http://www.youranswerplace.org/business-and-nonprofit
Guide to reading the financial report:
http://www.ibm.com/investor/help/guide/introduction.wss
Then check out the Following Links for your corporation for news articles, stock reports, and industry information:
Business and Company Resource Center:
One stop information source for articles, stock, reports, and industry information.
http://www.youranswerplace.org/business-and-nonprofit
Corporate Information
Have to pay to retrieve company reports, but this site provides links to other free websites that provide business information on your company.
http://www.corporateinformation.com
ReferenceUSA: Can check Business Credit Ratings!!
The database shows basic company information and size and sales are estimates, however downloaded records include: executive names, industry codes, credit ratings, and more.
When downloading make sure the selected options are:
File Format = Comma Delimited
Platform = Windows
Level of Detail = Detailed
http://www.youranswerplace.org/business-and-nonprofit
Better Business Bureau:
Check out the company's reliability. The BBB logs complaints against the company and gives brief reviews of selected companies.
http://search.bbb.org/search.html
Mergent: (Need Library Card to Use)
Stock and company history information (and Annual Reports!)
http://www.youranswerplace.org/business-and-nonprofit
Open Secrets:
Search by Corporation name to find out if your prospect company is contributing to Soft Money Donations.
http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/index.php
Center for Public Integrity: 527 tracking:
Search by Corporation name to check on major donations to political campaigns
http://www.publicintegrity.org/527/
CQMoneyLine:
Search by Corporation name to find out if your prospect company is contributing to Political Campaigns.
http://moneyline.cq.com/pml/home.do
Federal Election Commission:
Can Search by Employer/Occupation
http://www.fec.gov/finance/disclosure/advindsea.shtml
St. Louis Business Journal: Available on ABI/INFORM Complete (Full Text 1999 - Current)
http://www.youranswerplace.org/business-and-nonprofit
St. Louis Commerce Magazine:
http://www.stlcommercemagazine.com/search/index.asp Also Available on ABI/INFORM Complete (Full Text 1990 - Current)
http://www.youranswerplace.org/business-and-nonprofit
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Available through Library Database
http://www.youranswerplace.org/magazines-and-newspapers
Bizjournal: Search business journals of many major cities
http://www.bizjournals.com/search.html
Lexis-Nexis(Library Version): This is the source for other news/business journals http://www.youranswerplace.org/business-and-nonprofit