Guides: Accounting: Company Research

Getting Started

Gale Business Insights: Essentials This link opens in a new window
Broad yet detailed coverage of international business, including timely case studies, full-text articles, and robust data sets coupled with authoritative references and tools for analysis.
Business Source Elite (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
This database provides full-text coverage of top business, management and economics journals and periodicals. These valuable publications cover topics such as accounting, banking, finance, international business, marketing, sales and more.

International Directory of Company Histories
Provides histories of companies that are a leading influence in a particular industry or geographic location.

EDGAR
Free public database of company filings with the SEC.
GuideStar
A tool for non-profit and grant research. Contains information, including 990 forms, for non-profit organizations. Note: requires a free account to access. Upsells paid accounts and access.
MarketWatch: Stock Symbol Lookup
Find basic financials and company overviews for companies that are publicly traded by looking up their ticker symbol.
Non-Profit Explorer (Pro Publica)
Use this database to view summaries of 3 million tax returns from tax-exempt organizations and see financial details such as their executive compensation and revenue and expenses.
The Official Board
Free and paid-subscription level access to company org charts.

Company websites: can be a great initial source of information, but there may also be some bias. Look for phrases like "about us" and "for investors" to find relevant information about the company itself. For publicly traded companies, you can use their website to find financial reports. If you're looking for analysis about a company, you should seek out other perspectives through newspapers, trade magazines, and journals.
A product or brand isn't the same as a company. For example, Dove soap is produced by Unilever. Calvin Klein is a brand owned by Phillips Van-Heusen (PVH) corporation.