In 2014, the Bronfman Library purchased access to Mergent Archives and Key Business Ratios. Read on to learn more about these useful resources and how they can help you out with your business research!
This database is an excellent source for corporate history research and is particularly useful for business students taking any business history courses such as MGMT 1030 in the BBA program. Some of the unique materials you can find include:
- A greatly expanded collection of annual reports, as well as historical Canadian and international annual reports spanning 85 years
- The full collection of digitized Moody’s Manuals, starting from 1909
- A digitized version of the Million Dollar Directories, starting from 1959
- The historical Dun & Bradstreet Key Business Ratios books from 1979-2013
To access all of this great content, you just need to sign-in to Mergent Archives and click on the Search Mergent Archives link on the right-hand side of the page:
Mergent Archives defaults to the historical annual reports search; however, you can access a ton of content by clicking on the other tabs such as the Million Dollar Directory or Corporate Manuals.
Most of the products in Mergent Archives are relatively easy to search. For example, if you were looking for an historical annual report for the company Alcan, you would just need to start typing in the company's name and a drop-down menu with options will appear.
After selecting the proper company name, you would then be taken to a page of Annual Reports results.
To see more reports, make sure to click on the next page button which will appear at the very bottom of the browser window. For example, the Alcan annual reports go all the way back to 1968 in this database, but without using the next page button, you wouldn't know this!
Want to learn more about which databases you should use for company history research? Angie Liann has created the very thorough Business History Guide. I recommend looking at the Company History section of this guide for additional company history database tips and tricks!
While Mergent Archives will give you access to the historical Key Business Ratios (KBR) books from 1979 to 2013, we also have a subscription to the current KBR data. By using this resource, you'll be able to retrieve industry benchmarks for public and private companies that include 14 key business ratios such as solvency, efficiency and profitability.
By using this database you can:
- Choose a one-year or three-year set of ratios for public and private companies in 800 lines of business
- Search for industries using SIC or NAICS codes
- Input financial data and instantly compare any balance sheet with industry benchmarks
Steston University has developed a useful research guide with step-by-step instructions on how to effectively access ratios in KBR.
While KBR is a useful resource, the Bronfman Library's collection contains many other resources that provide students and faculty with substantial benchmarking data for industries. Our Finance Research Guide, created by Xuemei Li, includes an extensive list of subscription and free print and online tools available at the library to help with benchmarking research.
We hope you enjoy using both KBR and Mergent Archives. If you have any questions about either of these databases or need help with business history research or industry benchmarking, feel free to contact the library. We're always happy to help you out!