Selected Resources
Accounting 151
Spring Semester, 2004

Table of Contents

Books
There are two resources that will assist in locating items in the Lehigh University Libraries. It is:

    1. ASA, The Library's Online Catalog. This lists all the items in the library and their location.
    2. WorldCat. This is a catalog that lists over 51 million items including books, journals, audio-visual, CD-ROMs and software from over 25, 000 libraries. These resources may be obtained via Lehigh's Interlibrary Loan.

Remember: Use ASA to locate books, journals, A-V materials, and CD-ROMs. Generally, journal articles are NOT indexed in ASA or in WorldCat.

Industry Information
These resources can be used to locate information on industries. They are:

    1. Associations Unlimited. Good for finding the industry's association and other related associations. Its URL is http://www.galenet.com/servlet/AU?locID=lehigh.
    2. Business and Company Resource Center. Has information on industries from a variety of resources including associations and journal articles.
    3. Bizstats.com. Good source for business statistics. Its URL is http://www.bizstats.com/.
    4. Investext. It has analyst reports covering more than 11,000 U.S. and international companies and 53 industries. These reports come from over 500 Wall Street and international brokerage firms.
    5. Journal indexes list articles on industries. See the Journal Index section for a listing of indexes.
    6. North American industry classification system, United States. 317.3/U588sa/ FM-1-R-Ref. T his is available in print or on the WWW. Its URLs are http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/naicstab.htm or http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/naics.html.
    7. Standard Industrial Classification Manual. 317.3/U5852/1987/Ref. This resource is available in print and on the WWW. The URL's for the manual is http://www.osha.gov/oshstats/sicser.html.
    8. Standard and Poor's Industry Surveys. 338/S781I/FM-1-Ref (On Reserve). Analyzes specific industries on quarterly basis. Trends, financial information, and industry data are available. Earlier volumes are available in the stacks back to 1976. This is included in the Standard and Poor's Market Insight.
    9. Standard and Poor's Market Insight. This includes a variety of information. It includes industry, stock, country, and company. It has the Industry Surveys.
    10. Value Line. 332.6/V215/FM-1-Ref (On Reserve). Includes quantitative and qualitative information for industry and company. It rates the companies' stock as a buy, sell or hold. Back issues are available on fiche from 1980 at Fairchild Library.

Industry Ratios

    1. Almanac of Business and Financial Ratios. 338.973/T864/FM-1-Ref. Latest on Reserve and earlier editions in the stacks.
    2. Bizstats.com. The URL is http://www.bizstats.com/.
    3. Factiva. This information is available through the Company Quick Search option.
    4. Industry Norms and Key Business Ratios. 338.5/I42/FM-1-Ref. Latest on Reserve with earlier editions in the stacks. Produced by Dun and Bradstreet.
    5. RMA Annual Statement Studies. 338/R642/FM-1-Ref. Latest on Reserve and earlier editions in the stacks.

Statistical Indexes
These items list sources where statistics can be located. They are:

    1. American Statistics Index. 310.016/C749a/Ref. Covers statistics printed by the Federal Government.
    2. Lexis Nexis Statistical. This is an index of statistics that were previously published in the print indexes that are listed above. Also this is compilation of statistics from a variety of sources, some of which are available in print and/or on the fiche at Fairchild Library. NOTE: Web version does not have all of the statistics that are available in print. Its URL is http://www.lexis-nexis.com/statuniv.
    3. Statistical Reference Index. 317.3016/S797/Ref. Covers statistics printed by non-Federal Government agencies, i.e., associations, commercial publishers, states, etc. Available on fiche since 1980 at Fairchild Library.

General Statistical Resources
The listed resources will give statistics on industries, general economy and population that are produced by the Federal Government. Many of these statistics are available on the Web (See the WWW section for Federal Government URLs). These are:

  1. Business statistics of the United States. 338.09/B976a/FM-1-Ref. Biennial publication has historical statistics that originally appeared in the Survey of Current Business as current. This publication has the statistics from 1947 to with in a year of its publication date.
  2. Statistical Abstract of the United States. 317.2/U58s/FM-1-RRef. Latest edition is in Ready Reference with earlier editions in the stacks. The URL for the Web edition is http://www.census.gov/statab/www/.
  3. STAT-USA. This is a compendium of government statistical information on the Web. It is available through the Article Abstracts and Databases on the Virtual Library. It gives information on general economic conditions in the United States, i.e., Consumer Price Index and Leading Economic Indicators. This compendium contains on the National Trade Data Bank. This gives information on foreign trade statistics of the U.S., trade opportunities and information on a foreign country's rules and regulations.
  4. Survey of current business. C56.109: /FM-2-DOC. The URLs for the Web versions are http://www.bea.doc.gov/bea/pubs.htm or http://asa.lib.lehigh.edu/cgi-bin/pubid?Pub=28352. Also available on STAT-USA.

Company and Stock Information
These resources are good for finding information on companies. They are:

    1. Business and Company Resource Center. Has information companies including history, financials, journal articles and investment reports.
    2. Factiva. The Company Quick Search has the financial information. This is the replacement for Dow Jones Interactive.
    3. Lexis Nexis Academic. This database has its Business section with divisions including Industry, Company, and Financial and Business News.
    4. Handbook of common stocks. (Formerly Moody's Handbook of Common Stocks) 332.6/M817si/FM-1-Ref). Reports on over 2000 stocks.
    5. Market Guide. Similar to Zacks in providing information on companies. Its URL is http://www.marketguide.com.
    6. Mergent Manuals (Formerly Moody's). 332.6/M817a/FM-1-Ref. Financial data on companies including income statements balance sheets and company history. There are six (6) parts: Bank and Finance, Industrials, Municipals and Government, Over the Counter, Public Utilities and Transportation. Earlier editions located in the stacks.
    7. SEC Edgar Database. See World Wide Web for description. Its URL is http://www.sec.gov/.
    8. Standard and Poor's Market Insight. This resource provides quantitative and qualitative data on companies and industries. It includes access to the SEC's Edgar database and S&P's Industry Surveys.
    9. Value Line. See Industry Information section for description.
    10. Zacks Investment Research. Provides investment information on a company including financials, buy/sell/hold/ information and earnings estimates. Its URL is http://my.zacks.com/.

Company Directories

    1. Directory of corporate affiliations. 338/D598/FM-1-R-REF
    2. Dun & Bradstreet million dollar directory. 380/ D897mia/FM-1-R-REF
    3. Hoover's handbook of American business. 338.74025 H789a/ FM-1-REF
    4. Mergent bond record. 332.6/M817ba/FM-1-REF

Bond Information
These give information on current bonds. They are.

    1. The Bond Market Association. A good site for explanations of bonds and for municipal bond information. Its URL is http://www.investinginbonds.com.
    2. Mergent bond record. 332.6/M817ba/FM-1-REF
    3. Yahoo Finance. A good site for explanations on bonds and for bond information. Its URL is http://bonds.yahoo.com/.
    4. A good resource for bond information is available through Columbia University. Its URL is http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/business/guides/bonds.html.

Journal Indexes
Locating articles with quantitative and qualitative information on companies and industries may be found using these indexes. Some indexes have full text articles. To access the Web version, click on Lehigh Homepage, at the top center Libraries, then Electronic Resources and then Databases. (Or click on its URL: http://databases.lib.lehigh.edu/finder/ ). They are:

    1. ABI-Inform. Indexes over 1400 journals in management and business. Coverage is from 1987 for mostjournals. About 45% of the articles are available in full text.
    2. ABI-Inform Dateline. Indexes resources with local and regional business news coverage of companies, business and the economy.
    3. ABI-Inform Trade & Industry. Indexes resources with a trade or industry focus.
    4. Accounting and Tax Index. Available only in print and is shelved in Index Section, Reference, Fairchild Library. Formerly called the Accountant's Index, Supplement.
    5. Business and Company Resource Center. This has trade journals that cover companies and industries.
    6. CCH Internet Tax Research Network. This includes the Internal Revenue Code (IRC), court decisions related to taxation, tax regulations and CCH's explanations of the IR.
    7. Econlit. A good index for the research journals that cover company information from a business and economic perspective.
    8. Factiva. This replaced the Dow Jones Interactive product. It has over 8000 publications (full text) back to the early 1980's.
    9. InfoTrac (a.k.a. Expanded Academic Index). Covers over 1400 journal going back to 1980. Some articles are available in full text.
    10. Lexis Nexis Academic. Provides full text of journals, newspapers, and wire services relating to business information. It also has full text legal materials such court decisions, legislation and regulations.
    11. Research Library. Covers over 1800 journals and newspapers. Some journal articles are available in full text.

World Wide Web
Using a search engine, e.g., AltaVista, Google, etc., you will find information that may be useful. Results may include (but not limited to) government, associations, companies and individuals that have home pages. These web pages provide facts, figures, and reports that may assist with your research. When searching on the Web, be sure to use a number of search engines. There are multi-search engines that search other search engines. These will make searching the Web more efficient. Dogpile.com is an example of these multi-search engines. Its URL is http://www.dogpile.com/. It will search AltaVista, Google, etc., to locate needed resources. An example would be a search for company home pages listing information on the company and/or product. Remember: anyone can put up a web page with information. Is the information on the web page reliable?

Statistical Resources on the Web are:

    1. Bizstats.com. Good source for business statistics. Its URL is http://www.bizstats.com/index.htm. Remember the warning about items on the web.
    2. Company Web Pages. These are good sources of financial information but the companies that issue the information maintain these pages.
    3. FinWeb. This resource provides web sites and explanations for the given web site. Its URL is http://www.Finweb.com/.
    4. SEC Edgar Database. This is available via Active's Companies/Markets Company Quick Search option and the Standard and Poor's Market Insight. The SEC's URL is http://www.sec.gov/.
    5. Yahoo.com. It is an excellent site for company information. Its URL is http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/.

These are additional sites for statistics on the economy from the Federal Government. They are:

    1. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Its URL is http://www.bea.doc.gov/.
    2. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Its URL is http://www.bls.gov/.
    3. Federal Statistics site. Its URL is http://www.fedstats.gov/.
    4. U.S. Census Bureau. Its URL is http://www.census.gov/.

There are additional resources including web sites that can assist you in locating information on an industry, legal information, marketing, statistics, etc. The first sites are related to accounting. They are:

    1. American Accounting Association. Its URL is http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa. Or for the Rutgers Accounting Web site, its URL is http://accounting.rutgers.edu/raw/.
    2. American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). Its URL is http://www.aicpa.org.
    3. Rutgers Accounting Web site (or RAW). This is the largest accounting web site on the Internet. Its URL is http://accounting.rutgers.edu/raw/.

Other accounting resources include the following:

    1. Academy of Accounting Historians. Its URL is http://weatherhead.cwru.edu/Accounting.
    2. CPANews. Site reports accounting professionals product news. Offers articles, link to online CPE courses and more. Its URL is http://cpanews.com.
    3. Examples of URLs for the big accounting firms are Ernst and Young (URL is http://www.eyi.com) and KPMG (URL is http://www.kpmg.com).
    4. Financial Accounting Standards Board. Its mission is to establish and improve standards of financial accounting and reporting for the guidance and education of the public, including issuers, auditors, and users of financial information. The FASB Statements in full text, plus summaries, and and status are available at this URL, http://www.fasb.org/st/.

These web sites are related to industries and may provide additional information. They are:

    1. Aerospace Industries Association of America (AIA). URL is http://www.aia-aerospace.org/.
    2. American Bankers Association (ABA). URL is http://www.aba.com.
    3. Association of Online Professionals (AOP). URL is http://www.usiia.org (E-commerce).
    4. Chain Drug Marketing Association (CDMA). URL is http://www.chaindrug.com.
    5. Grocery Manufacturers of America. URL is http://www.gmabrands.com.
    6. International Franchise Association. URL is http://www.franchise.org.
    7. International Mass Retail Association. URL is http://www.imra.org.
    8. International Society of Restaurant Association Executives.
    9. Market Guide. Its URL is http://www.marketguide.com.
    10. National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS). URL is http://www.nacds.org.
    11. National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC). URL is http://www.npcnow.org.
    12. National Restaurant Association. URL is http://www.restaurant.org.
    13. Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA). URL is http://www.pcmanet.org.
    14. Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PMA). URL is http://www.phrma.org.
    15. Resource pages for locating materials in addition to the library's resources are the Louisiana State University Libraries' Accounting web page. Its URL is http://www.lib.lsu.edu/bus/account.html.

LiveRef
If you need assistance with research for a project, you may click on the LiveRef icon. There, you will have a real time chat with a Lehigh librarian. Its URL is http://www.Lehigh.EDU/library/onlineref.html. The hours for spring, 2004 are: Monday to Thursday, 8AM to 8pm, and Friday 8AM to 5 pm.

IMPORTANT NOTE
The Internet can provide a wealth of information for size, concentration, market share, growth rate, economy, advertising, and Internet marketing. REMEMBER the warning in the last few sentences of the WWW section. A good resource for information on searching and evaluating the web is http://www.lehigh.edu/library/infodome/infotemp.html.

Created on 2/11/04 by W. Fincke, Business Librarian.
Office: Rm. 343, Rauch Business Center.
Hours: Mon.-Fri. 8:00-4:30.
Phone: 83052.
Email: wjf0@lehigh.edu.
URL is http://www.lehigh.edu/library/guides/guides.html.