Worldscope company data

Worldscope is an international database containing financial profiles, fundamental analysis, and stock performance data. Worldscope takes into consideration the variety of accounting conventions now in use worldwide and presents more than 6,000 data variables in a reformatted design that facilitates comparisons between companies within and across national boundaries. Worldscope data variables include financial variables extracted from source documents, data items computed from fundamental variables, general corporate data, including a brief business description, officers, segment data, major shareholders and auditor information, and accounting data items on a company-specific basis.

For an overview of the number of companies covered by country I have created an Excel file which is available here.

Worldscope is available through (at least) the following two database suppliers:

• LexisNexis:
  The Online help information lists the following: total companies covered is +28,000 active and inactive companies in 54 companies. I called the LexisNexis helpdesk today to ask if this was still information was still current. Unfortunately nobody could tell me if the number of companies covered matches that of Datastream. The frequency of the updates is unclear. Each report covers the last reported 3 years of company data. You can download complete reports or parts of the financial data in excel for each separate report.
  
• Datastream:
  According to the newsletters of Datastream: total companies covered is 59211 of which 36876 are active and 22849 inactive companies in 68 countries. The database is updated each month. 1850 data items from the Worldscope database are covered. Much of the data for the companies can be downloaded to Excel using a single search request. Worldscope has data that for some companies goes back 20 years.

Author information: LinkedIn

02:48 PM - 23 December 2009

Public historical economic data sources

The following historical sources may be of interest if you are lookig for economic or social data:

The IISH List of Datafiles of Historical Prices and Wages
The International Institute of Social History (IISH) has established a moderated list of datafiles of historical prices and wages. The focus is on data bases related to Europe and on non-European (in particular Asian) countries in the period before 1914. The website offers three kinds of sources:

• List of datafiles available online
• An index to other websites containing statistical data
• An overview of the value of the guilder from 1450 onwards with links to sites with the value of the US dollar (1665-) and the British pound (1660-).

NEHA: BedrijfsArchieven Register Nederland
The Dutch Company archive register has information on (historical) company archives in public archives, companies or in private collections. The register is maintained by the Dutch Economic Historical Archive (= Nederlandsch Economisch Historisch Archief (NEHA)) in Amsterdam. The NEHA has more sources that may also be relevant on its website.

Author information: LinkedIn

05:02 AM - 10 December 2009

Financial Reporting & Accounting Standards

Here are some sources which are available on the internet and that I think may be useful:

• Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)
• International Accounting Standards Board
• International Financial Reporting Standards
• European Union & IAS/IFRS Standards and Interpretations
• Dutch Accounting Standards Board
• Jaarverslag.Info
• External Reporting Directory

Author information: LinkedIn

12:19 AM - 28 October 2009

Company name extensions

Many companies worldwide have different extensions attached to the full name. These extensions indicate their type and what legal requirements are attached to their operation. Some extensions for instance indicate whether they are public or private companies. an overview for many countries is available at the website of CorporateInformation (CI).

Author information: LinkedIn

12:39 AM - 5 October 2009

Commodity prices

There are several sources I know which can be used to find Commodity prices. Datastream is one of these sources. If you select the Data Category Commodities you can search for prices of several types of commodities. The best way to search for this is to use the Explorer option which allows you to browse the various commodities. When you search for the main oil price this is the best way to go. The default oil price will appear in bold among the others: the mnemonic for it is OILBREN. Natural gass also has a main default  price which is listed in bold: NATLGAS.

Other sources on the internet for commodity prices are:

IMF Primary Commodity Prices
At the bottom of the website there is a link to a text (CSV) file which lists the monthly data for 8 price indices and 49 actual price series from 1980 to now.

World Bank - Commodity Price Data (Pink Sheet)
This pink sheet lists only the last 3 monthly average prices plus quarterly and annual average prices for the last few years before this. You can set up an email alert to be informed of the publication of the next pink sheet.

Commodity Price Statistics on-line (UNCTAD)

The website provides monthly free-market prices and price indices starting in January 1960 for selected commodities that concern commodity-dependent countries. Price indices are provided for commodity groups (including food, tropical beverages, vegetable oilseeds and oils, agricultural raw materials, minerals, ores and metals), and for all groups in current dollars and SDRs.

Note: Access to some of these sources may depend on your organisation having a subscription.

Author information: LinkedIn

11:42 PM - 4 October 2009