The Issue
Portals of Information
Essential Websites for Financial Professionals
Chris Chillingworth
Partner, CFOs2Go Partners
We are often asked where to get information frequently used by finance professionals in carrying out their daily responsibilities. Typical uses of web based financial information include:
- Valuations
- Stock Compensation Expense
- Foreign currency denominated transactions
- Financial Statement Consolidations of foreign entities
- Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) for competitive analysis
- Recruiting
- Networking
- Capital Raising
- Investment Analysis
- Goodwill and Intangible Impairment Assessments
- Public Company comparables
Although much of the information can be found through the use of the well known search engines and their associated web browsers, the level of inquiry we receive suggests that a single one-pager, if you will, of websites containing the commonly available information we financial professionals
use every day, would be useful. So this edition of The Issue is devoted to that purpose.
Please note that there are thousands of websites, many of which provide some of the same information as contained in the attached Exhibit. We restricted our Exhibit to the websites we use most often and which,historically, have provided the most reliable data.
For the most part, we tried to include websites that provided their basic information for free. There are a few exceptions to this principle, such as The Wall Street Journal, which has earned the reputation as being the definitive resource of its kind.
Most of the non-governmental sites also have premium options with advanced features, which we’ve noted in the attached Exhibit. While we generally encourage frequent users of a site to upgrade to premium status if they find the information useful, there is no implied or explicit endorsement of any site on our part. Users are advised to exercise their own judgment as to whether a value proposition exists in consideration of the quality of information being provided and the purpose to which it is being used. In addition, a particular tool or resource available on a particular site does not necessarily legitimize other tools or resources on the same site.
We also stayed away from commercial solutions such as Enterprise Reporting and Planning (ERP)
systems, stock compensation administration and expense systems, and other competitive solutions which are generally complex, costly, and require implementation. We frequently consult with our clients on implementing such solutions, should that be of interest.
