Gimmie that Old Time Financial Statement: Annual Reports to Shareholders

Company annual reports provide stock owners and potential investors with information about company performance and plans. US Company Annual Reports have much more flexibility in format and content than do the annual 10K reports that are required by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.  10K reports, on the other hand, offer much more detailed information on company history, company description, and financial data.

Annual reports are not always easy to find on the Internet, take Ford’s 2001 Annual Report to Shareholders (ARS) as an example. Try a Google search for Ford 2001 annual report. Unless you want a report on Henry Ford Elementary School, this search is not successful. Ford’s website looks promising, but the archive only goes back to 2002. If we search the SEC filings, we’ll find that the ARS wasn’t filed with them at all (only required to file 10-K). This isn’t the end of our search. The Penn Libraries subscribe to a number of databases that cover annual reports, both current and historical. Keep reading to find out where we can find Ford’s 2001 ARS.

So Call Me, Maybe? Smartphone Market Penetration in the U.S. and Globally

According to Pew Internet, as of February 2012 almost half (46%) of American adults own a smartphone. Smartphone use is increasing (the average user spends 39 minutes a day on their smartphone) and so are users. The firm eMarketer estimates that there will be 192.4 million smartphone users in the U.S. by 2016.

Smartphones are also popular overseas. Bloomberg Businessweek says that smartphone users globally have reached the 1 billion mark. The number represents the growing smartphone market, but smartphone market penetration (product sales as a percent of total potential market) is still low in many regions.

In this post we highlight a number of resources that are useful for finding out more about the U.S. and global smartphone market. The resources below cover smartphone market penetration, but can be used also to research a broad range of topics within digital technology.

I Dream of Gini – Measuring Income Distributions

Following up on our previous post on wealth, this post focuses on resources that can be used to learn about income distribution.  Income distribution within countries is often measured by the Gini Index. Devised by the Italian statistician, Corrado Gini in 1912, the scale for the Index runs from 0 (perfect equality of income) to 100 (perfect income inequality). A Gini Index of 0 would indicate that everyone had the same income. A Gini Index of 100 would indicate that one person had all the income. In the U.S., the Gini Index is calculated annually by the Census Bureau. You can find a graph or table of the index from 1967 to date on Bloomberg.

For a Bloomberg graph Type GINI (Hit the INDEX key) GP

Puttin’ on the Ritz – Sources for Data on Wealth

In the U.S. there is an increasing concentration of assets in the hands of the wealthy. This trend has given rise to phrases such as the “1%” and the “99%”.  Here are some data sources to help us answer such questions as “Who are the richest people?”, “How many of them are there?”, “How rich are they?”, and “How do they spend their money?”

Richest Lists

Forbes has a number of “richest people” lists in its magazine including Forbes World’s Billionaires and Forbes 400 The Richest People in America. In addition to names, photos, and net worth, the lists have information on residence, age, and source of income.  Using Forbes’ data, Wikipedia has compiled a convenient list of the Top 10 Richest People in the world by year from 2000 on.

Rich Demographics

Capgemini and RBC Wealth Management’s 2012 World Wealth Report is a freely available annual survey of “High Net Worth Individuals” (HNWI) from 70 countries. HNWI are defined as those with financial assets, excluding residence, of more than 1 million US dollars. Capgemini also discusses “Ultra HNWIs” individuals with financial assets of more than 30 million dollars. The report includes statistics on type of financial assets and a ranking of high wealth individuals by geographic area and country.

Foursquare Flash Special: Check-in for a Free Coffee

Starting today at 12PM, the Lippincott Library is running a Flash Special at our Foursquare location.

The first 25 people to check-in at the Lippincott Library on Foursquare will get a coupon for a free cup of coffee at Mark’s Cafe.

Start     Tuesday, October 2 @ 12PM

End      Friday, October 12 @ 5PM

Show the librarian at the Reference Desk that you unlocked the special to receive your coupon. The special is limited to one coupon per person.

Put Your Wallet Away: The Library has the Wall Street Journal

Have you heard that the Wall Street Journal is available to students online, but can’t seem to find Penn’s subscription on the WSJ website?

You are not alone. The Lippincott Library has full-text access to the newspaper, but not through WSJ online. You can access the newspaper through several of our subscription databases.  Below is an outline of the many places you can find the Wall Street Journal, both current and historical.

CURRENT

Dow Jones Factiva is a key source for news information, covering 35,000+ full-text newspapers and magazines, including key papers like the New York Times and Wall Street Journal.  Coverage of the WSJ in this database goes back to 1984. You can both browse the newspaper in this database as well as search for specific articles.