Accounting information is used within an organization to make decisions about finance, resource allocation, production, and marketing. It is also used externally by creditors, other businesses, investors and government agencies charged with monitoring business activities and organizations.
When conducting acccounting research, you may need to locate following types of information:
- Accounting Standards: U.S. and international
- Articles and Books: for example, articles may provide contextual analysis of a standard's application, including practical examples
- Business Ratios: used to benchmark the performance of a company against its peers and industry as a whole
- Company Financials and Filings: including financial disclosures found in filings such as 10-Ks, 10-Qs etc.
- Company Profile: including business description, competitors, auditors etc.
- Financial Market and Economic Data: such as exchange rates, CPI, and LIBOR rates
- Industry Information: how the industry operates, key industry ratios, key players etc.
- International Business Operations: Information on "doing business" in a foreign country, espeically the legal, economic, financial, and regulatory environment.
- Taxation: information on tax consequences and compliance with the tax code and IRS rules and regulations, court rulings, and administrative decisions.
