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Summary posted by Christie Flynn, University of Texas of the Permian Basin, on February 13, 1998

Gary,

Thank you for posting my request for information to BUSLIB. The responses I received were very valuable. Here is the short version of my summary of responses if you would like to post them to the list. I will also send you the complete unedited version of the responses if you would like to post those as well.

Thanks again for spreading the word for me!

My thanks to everyone from LIBREF and BUSLIB who responded to my request for information about Compustat PC Plus and Standard and Poors. This was very helpful. I received seventeen responses. Following is is a *very* condensed summary of the responses. If anyone is interested in the unedited version, let me know, and I will gladly send that to you.

For for your information, our library chose to keep S&Ps Industry Surveys and Bond Guides and to cancel the rest of our S&P subscription. We will begin by getting a single user license of Compustat PC Plus this Spring for nearly $10,000. Part of the money will come from my Standing Orders budget and part of the money will come from the Business Department's library allotment. We will track the usage very carefully for one year before we renew. We want to track who is using it (faculty, grad. undergrad), how often, and how it's being used (for assignments or for research.) Here is a summary of the information I received:

Compustat PC Plus product description: Provides 20 years worth of financial statement data · Excellent source for public company information · Great analytical tool · Useful research tool · Heavily used by faculty and grad students · Useful for finance and accounting · Have "classroom" program that is available to people who have already purchased the networked version of Compustat (a $15,000 price tag)

Ease of use: Sophisticated product · Steep learning curve · Requires time investment · Not for the infrequent user · Data elements provide many types of reports (This is good, but requires expertise on the user's part.)

Comments: Two responses indicated that Compustat is made available only to faculty and PhDs. · A graduate school in business really needs both Compustat and Standard and Poor's. · Undergraduates would not find much use for Compustat. If graduate students are not the ones using it, then it will be the faculty doing research. · Complaints · Did not function well on a LAN (2 responses) · Poor customer service (2 responses) · Updates were out of date (1 response) · LAN use has required internal technical support (2 responses) · Cost prohibitive (consensus of responses) · Not user friendly

Standard and Poors (comparison) · Heavily used · S &P information is not available free on the web · S&P is available on CD-ROM and in print. (paper copies may be available at no additional cost) · Industry surveys are a must for any department · The web is not as trustworthy as S&Ps, Moody's, and IAC. At least one of those should be standard. · S&P is proprietary information. Their comparative ratios not available elsewhere.

A few people gave me web sites with related information. These sites have been very helpful.

Columbia University Business and Economics Library (home)

Economics Library (list of electronic services)

Wall Street Research Net  (investment ratios)

Tripod (directory info)

UTPB Library (and our own company page here at UTPB)

Thanks again.

-- Christie J. Flynn Public Services Librarian

Edited on September 23, 2005