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Company and industry information: Types of data

Getting started

When looking for company and industry information, start by asking:

 

       What kind of data or information are you looking for?

  • For companies: Is the company Australian or international? Is it a publicly listed company or a private company? 
  • For industries: Are you looking for industry data ( including comparative industry information or analysis)?

 

       Then you can start to determine where to find it:

How to find data and information about:

For a full list of Australian company and industry databases subscribed to by UWA, see the databases subject list in OneSearch:  'Australian company and industry' 

 

DatAnalysis Premium (Morningstar)

Premier research tool for ASX company data. Comprehensive data on all companies listed on ASX as well as companies delisted since 1990. The database is updated daily from announcements lodged at the ASX and includes corporate details, full dividend history, operational history, financial and annual reports in PDF format back to 1998 and company announcements. Includes reports, announcements, company histories, shareholdings, company profiles, takeovers and financial data.

Business Source Ultimate

Business Source Ultimate is a definitive scholarly business database, providing the ultimate collection of bibliographic and full text content. Business Source Ultimate contains far more active, peer-reviewed, business related journals than any other database currently available. As part of the comprehensive coverage offered by this database, indexing and abstracts for the most important scholarly business journals back to 1886 are included. This is in addition to the searchable cited references provided for more than 1,200 journals

Company360

In-depth business information and analysis on Australia's leading 50,000 private and public companies. Includes: company financial reports, financial ratios & analysis, structure & shareholders - including linkage to parent companies, subsidiaries & affiliates, board & executive profiles, company overviews, ASX data (listed companies), and latest news insight from Australia's leading business journalists. 

IBISWorld

For additional industry market research, reports and statistics (Australia only) use IBISWorld. Report types include: AU Industry reports, AUD Company reports, AU risk reports and AU Business environment profiles. 

Business News IQ

For detailed West Australian company and industry data and news use Business News IQ.

Australian industry statistics overviews

The Australian Bureau of Statistics also provides data and analysis on Australian industry as a whole, as well as specifically in the areas of Agriculture, Building and Construction, Energy, Mining, Retail, Technology and Tourism and Transport.

For a full list of international company and industry databases subscribed to by UWA, see the databases subject list in OneSearch:  'International company and industry'. See also the Bloomberg and Eikon with Datastream information in this guide.

 

Mergent online 

Mergent online provides information on over 11,000 companies listed on the NYSE, AMEX and Nasdaq exchanges updated daily, information on over 12,000 international companies, domestic and international annual reports, real-time access to SEC (EDGAR) filings dating back to 1993, "as-reported" financial statements providing review of balance sheets, income statements, expenditures, assets, liabilities, cash flow, performance trends, etc. 

See this link for more information about the types of information available on Mergent online. 

Business Source Ultimate 

Business Source Ultimate is a definitive scholarly business database, providing the ultimate collection of bibliographic and full text content, and also company profiles. 

For Company profiles: select 'More' from the taskbar at the top and choose Company Profile

For Industry profiles: enter a keyword (e.g. telecommunications) or an industry code; then under 'Source types' on the left side bar menu choose Industry Profiles.

See this video link for a basic introduction to searching in Business Source Ultimate. 

Passport

Passport contains over a million demographic, economic and marketing statistics for 205 countries worldwide. The database also contains 6-year historic market size data for more than 330 consumer products in 52 countries, plus 5-year forecasts.

For tips and instruction on using Passport see this video 'Passport: Getting started'.

Data about private companies is variable as they are not covered by the same regulatory disclosure framework as public companies. See below for some suggestions for finding information on private companies. 

  • Individual company websites - these may be a good source of data.
  • ASIC website (basic information is available and further information may be purchased)
  • Company 360 (covers the top 50,000 Australian companies, both public and private)
  • Factiva - use the Companies/markets tab for private as well as company information and the general search tab to access the full text articles from thousands of Australian and international print media titles, including the Australian Financial Review and The Australian. See 'How to access popular newspapers in OneSearch' in our Newspapers and news sources guide.
  • IBISWorld Industry level market research and industry risk reports (Australian companies).

 

 

For public companies the company's own website is often a good source of information.

Good sources of information on 'not for profit' companies include individual websites, the Centre for Social Impact web site and newspaper and journal articles. A guide to Newspapers and news sources is available. 

For general public announcements on company activity:

  • ASX Company Research  - The Company research section enables you to search for in-depth price, company and trading information for companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange.
  • Yahoo Finance - Good snapshot information, but remember to look critically at the sources for data. Includes sustainability data.

Contact for support

Email your questions to our friendly library staff.

Students

web.uwa.edu.au/askuwa

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hdrsupport-lib@uwa.edu.au

UWA Staff

staffsupport-lib@uwa.edu.au

More contact options are available on the Library Contact us page.

Search Tip

Many databases and websites allow you to search by industry code or classification. Common codes are:

  • NAICS - The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) was adopted in 1997. 
  • SIC - The Standard Industrial Classification System (SIC) prior to 1997 - but still used in some areas. 
  • GICS - Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS). GICS is a joint Standard and Poor’s/Morgan Stanley Capital International product. From 2002 Australian sectors were reclassified according to this scheme and the previous ASX industry classification became redundant.
  • ANZSIC - Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) is produced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and Statistics New Zealand.

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