Bankrupcy Database

Free database of major bankruptcies since 1986. It is primarily publicly traded companies and selected private companies. You can search by company name, asset size, business type, and bankrupcy start date.
http://www.bankruptcydata.com/findabrtop.asp

7 Secrets of a Steve Jobs Presentation

From Washington Post article November 4, 2009 by Carmine Gallo:
http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/leadership_playlist/2009/11/seven-secrets-of-a-steve-jobs-presentation.html

Sell dreams, not products.
Create Twitter-friendly headlines.
Introduce the antagonist.
Stick to the rule of three.
Strive for simplicity.
Reveal a "Holy Smokes" moment.
Share the stage.

New Database: IBISWorld

IBISWorld is provided through the generous support of the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship in partnership with the University Libraries.

IBISWorld covers over 700 industries in the United States , over 60 global industry reports, as well as, 160 industry reports for China. Research reports contain trends, statistics and analysis on market size, market share of competitors, and industry growth rates. Performance analysis includes emerging industry trends as well as recent production performance and 5 year forecasts. Company Reports on over 8000 US, Canadian and global public trade companies, sourced via Hemscott. Our subscription also includes over 300 economic and demographic reports.
Access the database on campus and off-campus (using library's proxy) from here: http://www.lib.fsu.edu/get/ibisworld

New Database: BizMiner

BizMiner is provided through the generous contribution of the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship in partnership with the University Libraries.

BizMiner provides detailed industry analysis and market research reports on more than 16,000 lines of business for the U.S. and local markets. Reports cover industry financial data, sole proprietor/startup profit & loss and business failure statistics at the national, state and local level. Also includes market research and demographic data, as well as, local market vitality profiles for starting businesses. BizMiner accesses over half a billion sourced data points from eighteen million business operations for each of its twice annual updates.
Access the database on campus and off-campus (using library's proxy) from here: http://www.lib.fsu.edu/get/bizminer

RiskMetrics buys KLD Research & Analytics' Socrates

RiskMetrics Group (NYSE: RMG), a leading provider of risk management and corporate governance services to the global financial community, today announced it has acquired KLD Research & Analytics, Inc. Headquartered in Boston, KLD is a leader in environmental, social and governance (ESG) research and indexes for institutional investors.

How many small businesses are there in the United States?

This information is taken from the National Federation of Independent Business 411 Small Business Facts
http://www.411sbfacts.com/speeches.html#q1

"There are three generally correct, though very different, answers. But it is important to distinguish between businesses and business owners. Because many businesses have more than one owner and many owners have more than one business, the two are not necessarily identical. However, we often assume they are.

29 million – There were almost 29 million federal income tax returns filed in 2004 with business income on them. (Source: Statistics of Income (SOI), Internal Revenue Service.) Due to tax filing requirements, that number includes both individuals and businesses. The very largest and the very smallest, including those with sales of just a few dollars, are counted.


15.75 million – Self-employment, i.e., operating one’s own business regardless of its legal form, is the principal occupation in the year for nearly 16 million people (2005). (Source: Office of Advocacy, U.S. Small Business Administration from data produced by Bureau of the Census.) This figure technically measures the number of people working in their own businesses, not businesses per se.


almost 6 million – Nearly 6 million businesses in the United States employ people other than their owners at some point during the year. (Source: Office of Advocacy, U.S. Small Business Administration.)


Ninety-nine (99) percent of employing businesses are “small” under prevailing definitions. Another way to look at it: 60 percent of all businesses that employ people other than the owners have 1 to 4 employees; another 20 percent have 5 to 9 employees; and yet another 10 percent have 10 to 19 employees. Businesses employing fewer than 100 people (excluding the self-employed who employ no one but themselves) constitute 96 percent of all employers (Source: calculations by NFIB Research Foundation from data published by the Office of Advocacy, U.S. Small Business Administration.)"

Prying Eyes

For the engineering geeks in the COB, EDN Magazine’s popular department that involves tearing apart a product to examine the engineering inside. Recently looks include the Microsoft's Zune HD and the T-Mobile's myTouch 3G.
http://www.edn.com/index.asp?layout=news&spacedesc=PryingEyes

Top 100 Companies of the Muslim World

http://www.dinarstandard.com/rankings/ds100/index.html

Economagic.com: Economic Time Series Page

A comprehensive site of free, easily available economic time series data useful for economic research, in particular economic forecasting. The core data sets involve US macroeconomic data (that is, for the whole US), but the bulk of the data is employment data by local area -- state, county, MSA, and many cities and towns.
http://www.economagic.com/

Poll Everywhere

This is an odd one, more of a resource than a database. Poll Everywhere allows one to give a live audience an instant real-time poll, to text or Twitter back their selections, and to instantly display the results of the survey in a PowerPoint slide to that group. Free for one user for up to 30 responders with an inexpensive sliding scale.
http://www.polleverywhere.com/

SAS 70: Statement of Auditing Standards- Finding Examples

Here are a couple of ways to find SAS 70 examples:
1. Search ABI/Inform Global for press releases for "successful SAS 70 audits"
2. Search Google for the phrase " Service Auditor's Report".

I found serveral reports plus a couple of accounting firm templates for creating the form.

Sustainability Companies

Inc Magazine's The Eco-Advantage is an annual look at companies on the cutting edge of sustainability and the innovative entrepreneurs behind them. This has been done since 2006 in a couple of forms. Here are the last few years:
2008
http://www.inc.com/magazine/20081101/blue-is-the-new-green.html
2007
http://www.inc.com/magazine/20071101/nothing-but-green-skies.html
2006
http://www.inc.com/magazine/20061101/green50_intro.html

Looking for female Finance mentors?

American Banker magazine gives an award every year for the Top 25 Women in Banking. They also cover top 25 Non-Bank Women in Finance and top Banking Teams.
http://www.25mpwib.com/

Blogging Ideas

Blogs are a lot harder than they look. Coming up with material is a constant chore and it is important to make sure the reasons for starting remain in your best interest. Here's a great site for making these decisions and coming up with ways to make your blog relevant.

ProBlogger
http://www.problogger.net/

2009 Green Rankings

Newsweek has just published the Green Rankings, an environmental ranking of America's 500 largest corporations. Top 10 companies are:Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Johnson & Johnson, Intel, IBM, State Street, Nike, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Applied Materials, Starbucks
Find it here: http://greenrankings.newsweek.com/