Company Information Guide: Company information

Some company information is found directly via the company's website, however there are other sources of information about companies. Publicly listed company information is the easiest to find, but some of our specialised sources will contain information on privately listed companies.

Industry profiles can also be used to look at entire industries and will outline that industry's current performance, outlook, major companies and key statistics.  Some sources include data that you can download and manipulate.  The main databases for this kind of information are IBISWorld and MorningStar DatAnalysis.

IBISWorld is a gateway to several collections that provide business information at the industry and company level. 

Our subscription provides the following collections:

Company Reports

      Company Reports Australia

IBISWorld’s Company Reports analyze the 2000 largest Australian and New Zealand companies; listed & non-listed public, private, foreign owned, trusts & government businesses. Each profile contains directors, key personnel, balance sheet and P&L data, ownership structure as well as the auditors, bankers and solicitors. In addition, the premium reports offers more detailed information including company activities, cross directorships, industry ratios and an analysis of the competitive environment.

Industry Market Research

      Australia Industry Reports

Our ANZSIC collection analyzes industries at the class level offering the latest content on 500 industries. Each report consists of 30 to 40 pages of key statistics and analysis on market characteristics, operating conditions, current and forecast performance, major industry participants and more.

      Australia Specialised Industry Reports

To help you find the right report more often, IBISWorld is expanding the report titles it offers. Our ANZSIC industry report collection is the bedrock of our report library, but we know that ANZSIC can often be too broad when dealing with small or new industries. IBISWorld is adding new reports every week that follow our standard report format and complement our ANZSIC collection.

      Australia Industry Lists

To help you fast track your analysis, planning or new business activity IBISWorld provides you with pre-defined lists which present selected data items from our 500 ANZSIC industries in a spreadsheet.

Industry Risk Ratings

      Australia Risk Ratings Reports

IBISWorld’s 500 Industry Risk Ratings analyses determine how much risk an industry, at the class level, will face over the next 18 months by assessing the operating conditions; industry structure, revenue outlook and key drivers. Our risk rating is a numerical score supported by a high level of analysis.

      Australia Risk iExpert summaries

Risk iExpert condenses the integral elements from our industry and industry risk ratings reports into bite-sized paragraphs, graphics and tables, highlighting the key issues including risks, with a Q&A section, for each of the 500 ANZSIC industries.

      Australia Business Environment Profiles

Every industry faces a set of drivers outside its control that have a material effect on industry performance. Our Business Environment Profiles provide insight into these key drivers, which include exchange rates, commodity prices, interest rates, weather conditions, consumer attitudes, demographics and many more.

It can be helpful to consider what type of company you are seeking information on:
Public listed / quoted

• Trade stocks or securities on an exchange (e.g. the ASX). 
• Are required to disclose information about their operations and performance, this means a lot of information is available in the above databases and on company websites. 

Private / proprietary / unlisted

• Not always required by law to disclose information for public inspection, therefore they can be harder to research.
• Resources to research private companies include databases listed at left (as indicated), news sources and company websites.
• In Australia, large proprietary companies are required to lodge financial information for public inspection, therefore information is available in the databases.
• Subsidiary
  • A subsidiary company is one that is owned by another company.
• Financial information on a subsidiary is sometimes not available and it is necessary to read the reports of the parent company.

Non-profit organisations / Not-For-Profit / NGO

• Can fall into a number of categories including associations and not-for-profit unlisted public companies.
• For information on a non-profit organisation, in addition to the databases try the  Australia Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission - government regulator, with basic financial and company information for registered charities.
• Government
• IBISWorld has company profiles for many Australian government bodies