05. Financial Information

5.1 Balance Sheet
5.2 Income Statement
5.3 Statement of Cash Flow
5.4 Key Financial Ratios
5.5 List any subsidies your firm has received.

Assess­ing the tar­get firm’s finances is cen­tral to understanding the com­pany.  With­out look­ing care­fully at a company’s finances one can get a very wrong impres­sion of its finan­cial con­di­tions by look­ing only at rev­enues or the value of its stock. Eval­u­at­ing a company’s finan­cial con­di­tion is also a pre­req­ui­site before con­sid­er­ing a cam­paign to deter­mine if the firm is finan­cially sound enough to with­stand an orga­niz­ing drive, or if the firm has such deep pock­ets that orga­niz­ing would be difficult. While corporate financial analysis may appear daunting for those who have no experience in this area, a basic understanding is quite possible in a relatively short period of time.

It is unlikely that you will find much financial information on privately held firms. The D&B report will provide a basic credit report on your firm and may contain additional financial information.

If you find a significant amount of financial information and you have no experience in reviewing financial documents, go first to our Financial Analysis for Union Researchers, or one of the many guides to corporate finance online, such as Merrill Lynch Guide to Understanding Financial Analysis.

Financial analysts utilize financial ratios to track the performance of a firm over time and to compare it to others in the industry. For a basic introduction to financial ratios, go to our Financial Analysis for Union Researchers or review the Financial Ratio Tutorial at Investopedia.

In addition to examining its overall finances, it is important to ascertain if your target firm has received any government subsidies. Good Jobs First Subsidy Tracker provides a list of a variety of types of subsidies. Good Job First also provides detailed information on which firms received COVID-19 subsidies with the COVID Stimulus Watch.

Paid Resources (Requires Subscription)

Mergent Market Atlas provides detailed company data on over 50,000 US and foreign companies, current and historical (past 15 years) firm descriptions, statistics, financial information and ratios, ESG scores, economic time series data, industry analytics and reports, and more.

The D&B Key Business Ratio provides financial ratios for industries based on NAICS codes.