Secret Weapon: The Reference Section

Your new friend: the reference section. Subject encyclopedias get you caught up to speed on your research topic. Typical entries might include; regulatory capture, theory of foreign direct investment, American credit unions, business law, and more. At the end of the day, better than
Wikipedia.

Who Audits A Company?

Here's how you find out who audits a company.

If you use Mergent: look up your company, then choose company details and scroll down and look to off-center right.

You can also do this in S&P's Netvantage. Once you look up your company, look under the Corporation Record area.

We also have a very advanced program Audit Analytics - this program features 1,500 accounting firms & 20,000 publicly registered companies. Shows who is auditing whom & how much they are paying for what services. Allows creation of reports by auditor, fees, location, & industry. Available only in the Alkek Library.

Austin and San Antonio Book of Lists

The Austin Book of Lists (heck, San Antonio has one too) is one of my favorite business publications.

It lists the biggest companies in the Austin/SA area by a variety of measurements: sales, retail square feet (for mall operators), hospital beds (health care), average rent (for apartment operators), etc....

You can't easily find these things elsewhere.

Our database Reference USA has a bit of that information, but not everything in the Book of Lists.

Classic Economic Texts Online

The Making of the Modern World offers access to the theories, practices, and consequences of economic and business activity in the West from the last half of the 15th century to the mid-19th century. The collection presents more than 61,000 monographs from the period 1450-1850,and 466 pre-1906 serials. It focuses on economics interpreted in the widest sense, including political science, history, sociology, and special collections on banking, finance, transportation and manufacturing.

The collection contains books from the personal libraries of such personages as Adam Smith, Lord Sheffield, David Ricardo, John Locke, Jeremy Bentham, William Wilberforce, Robert Owen, Sir Robert Peel, William Wordsworth and Karl Marx. The Making of the Modern World contains valuable first editions as well as many texts in French, German and other languages.

JOBS Bill (Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act): Be Careful

The 2011 JOBS (Jumpstart Our Business Startups) Act makes it easier for small businesses to raise investment capital - maybe a little too easy.  Regulatory filings are reduced, lessening the burden on small businesses but also reducing your access to information.

According to the Washington Post, 

" It allows private firms to raise money by advertising to the general public for the first time in decades, raise up to $1 million in capital from investors via the Internet, and temporarily skirt some of the federal disclosure and accounting rules as they go public."

Remember to watch the great TV show American Greed to get hip to all the different frauds out there.

Business Customs in Different Countries

Here's the way to research the business customs and/or psychology of different countries.

Country Watch has a link called Cultural Etiquette. Once you've selected your country, look at the left side of the screen:










Culture Grams is another option. Super easy to use. Sample screen shot below.

Market Share Reporter

I like Market Share Reporter - it allows you to see brand shares or the size of a market. Could be anything: chocolate, mobile phones, diapers, internet service providers, you name it. It's culled from various business and industry news sources and covers different countries.

EXAMPLE:

Once you get to the database, there's a simple search feature.

It works OK - but, if you have problems, go to advanced search, highlight Market Share Reporter, and do your search (you get the option of searching by SIC or NAICS in advanced search).

EXAMPLE: