| Identification, Description, and Evaluation of Fee-based Databases for Finding Accounting and Management Information Richard Torian August 26, 2010 I. Introduction. One purpose of this website is to explore and evaluate what is available on the Internet to answer questions asked by management accountants and business decision makers. A focus has been to find that information and tools, which are freely available and are useful. However, some information and tools on the Internet simply could not and would not be provided without reimbursement of the costs and profit gain for those making the information and tools available. This article identifies, describes, and evaluates twenty-two database and information providers that: 1. Charge fees to access their databases and information, and 2. The data and information provided is judged by me to be of potential use and interest to management accountants and business decision makers. A search of the Internet was done using these two criteria to find such service providers. Of those found, the twenty-two identified in this article met the above two criteria. For each provider, an appropriate provider’s webpage link is given and evaluative comments are made. II. Fee-Based Database Providers 1. Fee-Based Databases Uniquely Useful To Management Accountants. Three database providers are identified and described in this section. These providers are described separately from the other database and information providers, described in the following four sections, because these three have databases that are unique in character from the others in sections 2 to 5 in terms of the data’s direct relevancy to the accounting function. a. Morningstar Document Research (formerly 10-K Wizard). http://www.10kwizard.com/ After registering and paying a subscription fee (basic fee = $229 as of 8/2010; with higher fees for enhanced researching capabilities), the user has access to searching tools to find information contained in a company’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings. This service formerly went by the name of 10-K Wizard. b. SkyMinder. http://www.skyminder.com/ SkyMinder provides credit profiles on more than 50 million public and private companies worldwide. Payment can be on a pay per view basis, after initial registration with a service representative. c. LexisNexis. http://www.lexisnexis.com/ Although LexisNexis continues to be primarily a lawyer-oriented service provider, LexisNexis does have databases and information of possible direct use to accountants in their accounting functions. These databases are in the areas of: taxation; compliance; and risk management, such as receivables management. A pay as you go payment procedure is offered. Searching is free and payment is for access to the article’s complete text of the result. Charges per article are in the $1 to $12 range, as of 8/2010. Database searching can also be subscribed to on a daily or weekly basis. 2. Fee-Based Databases of Newspapers, News Wires, Magazines, and Other Current News Publications and Transcripts. This section identifies and describes three fee-based providers of databases of newspapers articles, news wires, magazine articles, broadcast media transcripts, and other current news sources. These databases often have information relevant to questions and information needs that management accountants and business decision-makers have. a. Highbeam. http://www.highbeam.com/ At Highbeam, a search can be made for articles in what is advertized as a database of more than 80 million articles, appearing in over 6,500 newspapers, newswires, magazines, journals, and other publications. A test search showed excellent results. For each result, the title, the first few lines of the result, a date, and the type of publication is provided. An online credit card payment is required to view the full article, after initial registration. b. Factiva (Dow Jones). http://factiva.com/ Searching Factiva databases can easily be done from Factiva’s homepage. The databases consist mostly of newspapers, magazines, broadcast media transcripts, news wires, and other news-related publications. The results can be viewed on a payment per document basis (($2.95 per document as of 8/2010) or under a subscription ($69 per year as of 8/2010). c. FPinformart.ca. http://www.fpinfomart.ca/ FPinformart.ca contains in its databases Canadian news wire, newspaper, and other media information which can be searched from its website. Results provide source information, titles, and the initial few words from the article. Access to the full information can be by payment per view or by annual subscription. 3. Fee-Based Databases of Articles in Scholarly Journals. This section identifies and describes two publishers of scholarly journals and provides links to their websites where searches can easily be made of the journals’ content. Also identified and described is one service provider that represents hundreds of publishers of scholarly journals. All the journals can be searched at this service provider's website. a. Emerald Group Publishing. http://www.emeraldinsight.com/ Emerald focuses on management and business journals so is an especially good journal article database for management accountants and decision makers. Abstracts are available and full articles can be purchased from the website using a credit card. b. Sage Journals Online. http://online.sagepub.com/ Sage Journals Online publishes a limited number of journals in the areas of economics, management, and organization studies. Abstracts are available with the search results. Articles can be viewed for a limited period of time for a charge often around $25. c. IngentaConnect. http://www.ingentaconnect.com/ From IngentaConnect’s home page, databases of over 4,500,000 articles contained in more than 13,500 publications can be searched. Most publications are scholarly journals. Results can be viewed on a pay per article basis, with payments in the $30 range. IngentaConnect covered publications represent hundreds of publishers, including such publishers as Emerald, which has its own website where its publications can be searched and results seen on a pay per document basis (see Emerald Group Publishing above). 4. Database Aggregators. This section describes six information providers that maintain many databases as aggregators of databases. Because of the sizes of these aggregators and the breath of the services provided, the primary subscribers to these services are libraries and other institutions. However, individual subscriptions are available for at least some of the aggregator companies. Because the targeted user often is the professional librarian (information professional) at these institutions, a learning curve more than needed for a routine search does exist for some of the databases. Your local library more likely than not subscribes to one of these database aggregators, so utilizing your local library may be a good option for searching one of these providers. a. Gale. http://www.gale.cengage.com/ Gale advertizes it has more than 600 databases, including academic, journals, newspapers, and other publications, available to users. Searching can be done within a Business and Company Resource Center containing databases relevant to business and companies. Gale markets to libraries and other institutions, and many public libraries subscribe to Gale. b. JSTOR. http://www.jstor.org/ JSTOR is intended to allow libraries not to have to purchase and store the many physical journals containing articles that users want to have access to. The idea is for JSTOR to purchase the journals and make the articles then available electronically to libraries. A visit to the JSTOR website and a search can find the abstract and first page of these articles. To see the full article, you usually would need to use a participating library. However, some articles can be purchased on the website. JSTOR states that more than 160 business journals, 115 economics journals, and 25 management and organizational behavior journals are kept. c. Dialog. http://www.dialog.com/products/platform/webinterface.shtml Dialog offers several search products that can be subscribed to with each offering selected access to some of the many databases that Dialog maintains. Some of these databases pertain to business and management and some of the Dialog products are tailored to users interested in information in these databases. Subscriptions generally start at a few hundred dollars a year, depending on the product. Dialog has hundreds of databases covering many areas besides business and management, and has historically targeted the library and the librarian researcher, which, for some databases at least, might make searching Dialog a special skill. Dialog is now owned by ProQuest, which also targets the library and other institutional markets. d. ProQuest. http://www.proquest.com/en-US/ ProQuest owns several services such a Dialog, UMI Dissertations (graduate thesis copies), and others and markets their services to libraries and other institutions, who pay subscription fees for the database access. e. EBSCO. http://www.ebsco.com/index.asp EBSCO has hundred of databases, including several with business and management-useful information. Subscriptions are intended for libraries, government agencies, and other large institutions. f. ReferenceUSA. http://www.referenceusa.com/ ReferenceUSA, which apparently only is accessible from libraries, provides names, contact information, and some limited company financial and other data for millions of US, UK, Canadian, and other country companies. Libraries pay a subscription fee. 5. Report Providers. This section identifies and describes seven vendors who primarily provide finished reports on companies and industries, based on database research done by the vendors’ personnel. The targeted customer for these vendors is usually the market analyst. However, company and industry information in these reports could be useful to management accountants and decision makers, in addition to the market professional. a. Market Research. http://www.marketresearch.com/ Market Research offers thousands of reports on companies, industrial sectors, and other topics, provided to Market Research by hundreds of publishers. Report prices vary from the low hundreds to several thousand of dollars. b. Hoover’s. http://www.hoovers.com/ Hoover’s offers reports on companies, including companies in other countries. Each report requires a fee to obtain. More than one report is available on some companies, at different prices. Hoover’s also offers executive and other employee contact information for a fee, as well as industrial sector assessment reports. c. Plunkett Research. http://www.plunkettresearch.com/ Plunkett Research provides industry sector reports, focused on responding to the needs of market analysts. Along with reports, Plunkett offers a product of providing continuing updates on the topic. Reports can include company information. Prices generally are in the low hundreds, and can be for a one time product or access to a database. d. Euromonitor International. http://www.euromonitor.com/ Euromonitor International offers hundreds of reports, written by Euromonitor International analysts, on industry sectors. Reports are by country as well as globally. Reports are from hundreds to thousands of dollars. Also available is access to the company data bases on a subscription basis. e. Snapshots. http://www.snapdata.com/index.php?module=product Reports available are met to be snapshots on the topic covered and are met to meet the needs of market analysts. Topics include products and services and are available for many countries. A summary of the report's content and a table of contents are available at the website. Reports are in the hundreds of dollars price range (as of 8/2010). f. IBISWorld. http://www.ibisworld.com/ IBISWorld publishes hundreds of reports on industrial sectors. Like reports provided by the other vendors, reports are useful for a variety of purposes, such as market analysis, benchmarking, and forecasting. Single reports can be purchased or a subscription can be purchased allowing access to several reports and updates. Prices are in the hundreds of dollars. g. Freedonia. http://www.freedoniagroup.com/Default.aspx Freedonia Group publishes industry research studies. Many industrial sectors are covered. Prices are in the several thousand dollars range. Abstracts and table of contents are available for viewing at the website. Single pages can be purchased with a typical price being $30 per page (8/2010). |