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Business Overview: BA 507 - Business Communications

Business Course Specific Libguide.

Purpose

This guide provides the resources you need to complete your business analysis project.

Company and Industry Reports

  • Choose a publicly held company! Privately owned companies generally don't publish the information you need. You can double-check their status on their Wikipedia page.
  • Google the company to find its official web site, or follow the link from its Wikipedia page. For example, if I want to find information on Tootsie Roll Industries, I search the company name. The first hit is http://www.tootsie.com/. So far, so good. 
  • Find the company's annual report and other financial data. Check the very top or very bottom of the page. Look for words like: 
    • company information  
    • corporate 
    • about 
    • investors 
    • title of the company (as in Tootsie Roll Industries)  
  • Look for a link to financial information, annual reports, SEC filings, etc.  (http://www.tootsie.com/financials/)
  • Troubleshooting: the information you need can be hidden in the website. You may need to click through the links to find the information. Click the "site map" link on the company website to see a list of major pages. 

Be selective when choosing a company. You will need to locate information and analysis on both the company and its industry.

Company and Industry Reports

Need an Industry Code for Your Research?

NAICS - North American Industry Classification System 

Company & Industry Ratios

A Very Correct APA Style PAPER

https://libguides.brenau.edu/ld.php?content_id=53817279

How to Cite IBISWorld

IBISWorld reports usually name the person who wrote the report. Use that person's name as the author, then add the year and month it was written. Enter the report title in italics, then the report number in parentheses. End with the URL of the report. 

Diment, D. (2021, August). Candy production in the US (US Industry Report 31134). https://my.ibisworld.com/us/en/industry/31134/about

 

If the report doesn't name an author, follow this example.

IBISWorld. (2021, August). International trips by US residents (US Business Environment Profiles Report F316)https://my.ibisworld.com/us/en/business-environment-profiles/f316/business-environment-profile

How to Cite Corporate Annual Reports

How to properly cite corporate annual reports:

Online annual reports

When accessed online from the company’s website:

The Coca-Cola Company. (2021). United States Securities and Exchange Commission form 10-K. https://investors.coca-colacompany.com/filings-reports/annual-filings-10-k/content/0000021344-21-000008/0000021344-21-000008.pdf

When accessed online from someone else’s website:

The Coca-Cola Company. (2021). United States Securities and Exchange Commission form 10-K. United States Securities and Exchange Commission. https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/21344/000002134421000008/ko-20201231.htm

 

Note that the publication year is 2021, even though the report is for the year 2020. That is because the report was actually written and published in 2021, after the fiscal year ended. 

Also note that the second citation has an extra element. It lists the SEC website as the place where the report was found. The first citation didn't need that, because it would be redundant to say that the Coca-Cola Company is both the author and the website. 

In-text citation

In the text, use the first two elements of the reference entry - The company's name and the date of the annual report.

According to The Coca-Cola Company (2021), ...

...(The Coca-Cola Company, 2021).

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