Compustat Global financial data & currencies

The following variables/codes  identify the currency in which the company's financial data is available in the Compustat Global databases. When this item is not equal to CURNCD, Compustat has translated the data from CURNCD to CURCD (or CURCDQ) using the translation rate found in the variable: CURRTR.

Mnemonic: CURCD
Periodicity: Annual
Format: Code

Mnemonic: CURCDQ
Periodicity: Quarterly
Format: Code

The historic exchange rates can be found by obtaining the variable exratd and applying it with the appropriate ‘tocurd’ and ‘fromcurd’ variables. The data manual for Compustat Global (Understanding The Data) has much more information in a specific chapter called: Chapter 8: Currency. This section of the manual says a lot about recalculating using exchange rates and gives variable options depending on the section of the Financial statements.

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10:52 PM - 18 June 2010

Wharton changes in the coming months

Last year Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS) launched their new platform for accessing databases. The old platform has been kept up and running simultaneously and could still be used .At the moment this platform is actively being phased out. The databases are no longer being updated through the old platform.

Below you find a schedule for the databases that will be removed from the old platform in the coming months:

• 19 May 2010 Free datasets
• 26 May 2010 CISDM, CENTRIS, CUSIP, GOVPX, IRI  
• 2 June 2010 OptionMetrics, RentBureau, GSI, ISSM, KLD  
• 9 June 2010 The Corporate Library, Mergent FISD/NAIC, MFLINKS, S&P Credit Ratings, CSMAR  
• 16 June 2010 Eventus 
• 23 June 2010 AuditAnalytics, comScore, Nastraq, Riskmetrics, Bureau van Dijk
• 20 June 2010 TAQ  
• 7 July 2010 Global Insight  
• 14 July 2010 Thomson-Reuters (including IBES, First Call)
• 21 July 2010 Compustat, CRSP

Be aware that if you are still doing research through the old platform you may need to start doing your searches using the new platform in the coming months!

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02:39 PM - 19 May 2010

Event studies and CRSP

Many people who do research are interested in finding out how the trade in stocks of a listed company are affected by certain events. These events can for instance be announcements of company results or news surrounding mergers / acquisitions, etc. Datastream has a specific tool to do this type of research called a Request table.

Doing regular searches in Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP) in WRDS you can only do a single search for information using one specific date range for 1 or more companies. CRSP, however, has a tool to do event studies which is available under tools in Wharton: see this option on the left side in the menu.

After clicking the Tools option you can find the "events" tool called "CRSP - Daily Extract with Time Window (Annual Updates)". 

Using the tool you can download four types of data surroubnding dates for companies:

• Information on trading dates
• Identification information
• Price information
• Share information

09:52 PM - 2 May 2010

Compustat Global data

A short while ago I tried to download data using a file of (ISIN) codes. The data I was interested in were BKVLPS, CEQL and CSHO. The search I did was done in the database Compustat Global Fundamentals Annual. A download using this ISIN code file and several other files gave no results for these variables. I send an email to the Wharton helpdesk because I thought this was a software problem and I expected the database to be in order.

Surprisingly enough the helpdesk replied that the variables (BKVLPS, CEQL and CSHO) in Compustat Global are not updated by Compustat, and that explained the missing data. Compustat may update the data for these variables in the future, but at the moment there are no data available for these three variables.

Note on Compustat variables:
BKVLPS = Book Value Per Share
CEQL = Common Equity - Liquidation Value
CSHO = Common Shares Outstanding

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09:47 AM - 18 December 2009

Accessing databases through Wharton 2

In the last post on this blog I mentioned the change in access method which has been applied by the Wharton company. It has now become clear why the change has been made. The reasons for changing the access method have primarily to do with preventing unauthorized use of subscribed databases. Wharton has given three main reasons for the change:

• "First, our data vendor partners are asking for increased assurances that the data is not being used by unauthorized Users or for commercial, non-research uses. We have had several incidences where Users who had left WRDS Subscriber institutions continued to use IP-authenticated resources to inappropriately access data. Open, unmonitored terminals with access to your contractually licensed data have been a potential legal liability which has been ignored historically in the interest of User convenience. In today’s more litigious environment, additional security is required.
• Second, we are experiencing more and more instances of very high usage from within libraries.
• Third, and most importantly, our only other alternative to meet these goals is to eliminate wide access, and  require all WRDS Users to have their own login. This would put a prohibitive load on the WRDS Representatives and is not a viable solution."

If I read between the lines, the most important reason is probably the first. High usage of databases in libraries (usually university libraries) should, however, (in my view) not by definition be a problem. This is only a problem if it can be established that there is unauthorized use for commercial purposes from within or oustide libraries by users who have left the university. I have yet to hear examples of this where I work.

At first I thought that accessing databases through the new website/interface would always require a login. This login+password would have to be requested by email each time you want to use the subscribed databases. This does not appear to be the exact situation. Access seems to work as follows:

"The method by which [users] would access through IP has been modified to allow for the entry of a valid email address. This is not a login which will need approval from your local WRDS Representative, but simply a valid email account. When [using] WRDS, Users will be asked to enter an email account with your institution’s domain. WRDS will then send an email message to that email account to verify that the account is valid. This email will contain an “Access Pass” link which the User can click on to get direct access into WRDS. The default for this Access Pass is 1 day."

I still hope something can be done to change this access method to the situation which exists for the current WRDS interface or to allow for easier use by extending the time period of the Access Pass. I am definitely not happy about this change.

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02:49 PM - 11 November 2009