The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS, pronounced "nakes") is used to classify business establishments with codes of 2 to 6 digits. This system was developed to help with comparing industries across the United States, Canada and Mexico. In many of the library's resources, the NAICS code may be used to search for information about an industry.
Public companies are legally required to share a variety of financial forms every year. For this class, here is a chart of different names used for different forms you will commonly use:
Form Name | Form Information |
10-K | Annual Reports |
10-Q | Quarterly Reports |
8-K | Current Reports |
Visiting the following pages to see all the forms available as well as a description of how to read a 10-K and 8-K.
Oftentimes, the best way to find data for a given industry is to find associations involved with that given industry. For example, in the restaurant business, there are reports and statistics from the National Restaurant Association that are available for those in that industry to use. For some industries though, this may require a paid membership to access.
Private companies are not legally bound to share their financial data since they are not invested on the stock market (thereby not available for public investment). Some may choose to share data while others won't. Cases like IKEA too may not have it on their main page (ikea.com), but available on a completely separate website (inter.ikea.com). Careful consideration must be taken when researching data on these type of companies. Access some private company information in the Data Axle database through Nashville Public Library.