This web page was created to help ADMS 4551 students:

• Access and navigate the CICA Handbook online which forms required reading for this course.
• Find the best resources to complete the group term project in planning for the financial statement audit of a publicly traded Canadian company.

Access the in-class handout .

CICA Handbook

The CICA Handbook is available from the library’s web site as part of the CICA Standards and Guidance Collection

This guide offers some quick tips on finding and navigating the CICA Handbook from both on and off-campus locations.

Canadian Company/Industry Information and Financials

Company websites

Use a company’s website, in this case Research in Motion, to find the company’s annual report, information about corporate governance or their Board of Directors, and look for additional information in site links to relevant information, e.g. Company, Investors etc.

SEDAR

All Canadian Public companies and investment funds are required to file their documents with SEDAR. Typically these documents include:

• the company’s annual report
• financial statements
• notices of meetings, and
• news releases.

In addition, you may find:

• management information circulars or management discussion documents,
• voting results,
• interim financial statements,
• mergers and acquisitions information,
• material change reports,
• prospecti, etc.

N. B. It is important to read the Notes to the Financial Statements in order to have a good understanding of the figures provided.

Key Company/Industry Information Databases

Through these databases, you can find many types of information for Canadian publicly traded companies including:

• company profiles
• history
• product information
• principal officers and directors
• financial statements and ratios (current and historical)
• stock price information

In formation about the company in the context of its industry is also provided in these databases including:

• a list of key competitors (typically available as a clickable link in databases
• ability to benchmark the company against overall industry performance (an option in Financial Post Advisor, Hoovers and Factiva)

Click the camera to watch a video about how to find company ratios using Mergent Online, Financial Post Advisor and Factiva.

These databases include:

Financial Post Advisor This database provides information on public traded companies in Canada and includes detailed information in Historical Reports (includes current information as well), Dividend Records, Corporate Analyzer, Industry Reports, and FP Directory of Directors. Typically detailed financial information is available for the previous 7 years with summary information extended will beyond that time period. The Corporate Analyzer section provides some ratios and other analysis of the company financials. Basic industry data is also available.

To find company ratios using Financial Post Advisor make sure that you consult the Corporate Analyzer section of the database. When you search your company by name one of the options provided will be “Ratios – Summary”. Many different types of financial ratios are available for a ten year period. To find ratios for the industry in which your company operates search for the company in question using the Company Snapshots option which appears in the left hand menu bar. Look for a link to “FP Industry Reports” in the bottom left area of the screen. When you click here you will see financial information for the industry in which your company operates, which includes financial ratios. Note that not all industries are covered by Financial Post Advisor.

Hoovers In-depth coverage of 40,000 companies includes an overview, history, products, competitors, financials, links to SEC filings and added features such as CEOs on Camera. Industry information includes an overview, most viewed companies list, industry family tree and news headlines. In addition there are “pro tools” such as “Target IPO companies”.

To find ratios for a company and its corresponding industry, do a search for the company in the database and when the result loads, click on the “Competitive Landscape” option which will appear in the left hand menu bar.

Mergent Provides company information and annual reports for Canadian, International, and US companies. Also includes industry reports covering current environment, sector performance, market trends, outlook, etc. for 20 industries. Quarterly and annual financial statements are available going back 15 years and these may be downloaded to Excel.

Ratios are available for individual companies and can be found by searching for the company needed and clicking on the financials tab which displays in the results. One of the options in the menu which will appear will be “Ratios”. Click here to obtain ratios for the company. Mergent Online does not provide industry ratios.

Factiva Click on Companies/Markets on the menu at the top of the screen, and then click on the company option to initiate a search by company name. Factiva offers detailed company information which includes company profiles, stock price activity charts, key executives, latest news, peer group listings, financial statements and key ratios, and various reports including a ratio comparison report that compares the company to the industry in general as well as the sector and S&P 500 companies.

To find ratios for a company and the industry in which it operates use the Companies/Markets menu at the top of the screen and use the company option to search a company by name. When you open up the record for your company, click on the last option in the left-hand menu bar – “Reports.” Then click on the “Ratio Comparison Report” option which appears in the drop down menu which appears.

Industry Benchmarks/Ratios

Key industry ratios for Canada are also available to members of the York University community from the following Statistics Canada publications :

Quarterly Financial Statistics for Enterprises (4th Q, 2000 – present)

Older issues (1996-2000) available in print at the Scott Library (CAN1 CS8.5 61-008)

Financial and Taxation Statistics for Enterprises (1999-present)

Older issues (1995-1998) available in print at the Scott Library (CAN1 CS8.5 61-219)

Investment Analyst and Broker Reports

Investext Plus Contains full-text financial reports and forecasts prepared by the world’s leading investment banks and consulting and research firms. Provides access to financial analysis for over 11,000 companies. Useful for competitive analysis, researching industry trends, conducting market research and company studies. American, Canadian and International in scope. USE IE browser only for full functionality.

Click the camera to watch a video about how to find find analyst reports using Investext Plus.

Journal & Magazine Articles

Proquest Business Simultaneously search all business & industry periodicals available through Proquest Central, including the ABI/Inform databases, concentrated publications on the pharmaceutical, banking, computing and telecommunications industries and Canadian, Asian and European business news. Includes wide coverage of corporate governance topics. Specific databases included in the Proquest suite of business databases at York University are: ABI Inform Global, ABI/Inform Trade & Industry, CBCA Business, CBCA Current Events, Proquest Asian Business, and Proquest European.

CBCA Business (Proquest) and CBCA Current Events (Proquest). Provides interdisciplinary coverage of Canadian topics including the areas of business and current affairs.

Business Source Premier Contains full text for 7,000 periodicals and other sources, including scholarly journals, trade and general business magazines.

Newspaper Articles

Canadian Newsstand – Major Dailies: A searchable full-text database of major Canadian daily newspapers. Major titles include: the Calgary Herald (1988-), the Edmonton Journal (1989-), the Globe and Mail (1977-), the Halifax Daily News (1990-), the Montreal Gazette (1985-), the National Post (1998-), the Ottawa Citizen (1985-)the Toronto Star (1985-), and the Vancouver Sun (1987-). Select the Publications tab for a full listing. There may be a 2 – 7 day delay for the most recent issues.

Factiva Includes nearly 9,000 sources from 118 countries in 22 languages, including full-text articles from international newspapers as well as Canadian newspapers ( The Globe and Mail, The National Post, and The Toronto Star), and continuously updated newswires and general business news publications such as The Economist, Forbes and Fortune.

Citing Sources: Footnotes & Bibliographies

You should always cite the source of the information regardless of whether it is from an article, a company database, a company website or wherever. You can learn more about these issues through the page on Academic Integrity and Plagiarism.

The Bronfman Business Library has prepared a How To Cite Business Sources In MLA that is based on the resources available to York University students. Here is a guide to APA style citations for business resources .

RefWorks is a web-based bibliographic management tool (citation manager) that allows you to create a database of citations or references to resources (books, journal articles, web sites, etc.). It facilitates the insertion of citations within a research paper as in-text references, footnotes, or endnotes, and the creation of a formatted bibliography using a citation style of choice. All major citation styles are supported (e.g., APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.).

Created by Elizabeth Watson YUL/BBL/ September 2009

Updated by Sophie Bury September 2011