Data Sources in Financial Modeling
Find relevant data for financial modeling
Data Sources in Financial Modeling
Collecting and using the right data sources in financial modeling is crucial to the success of a business. Financial modeling requires gathering and analyzing lots of information; the collection of data is a crucial step in creating a financial model. There is a wide range of data that must be used in a financial model. A company’s historical results are the key input to prepare a three-statement model, which is a setup for your financial model.
Management discussion and analysis from corporate filings, industry reports, and research reports of professional analysts are some of the resources that may improve the accuracy of your forecasting assumptions. Finally, you need to find the appropriate inputs for your valuation. Knowledge of relevant data sources is critical for an analyst to develop a precise and up-to-date model.
Data sources: Company reports and regulatory filings
Governments place special attention on public companies. There are mandatory reporting standards for public companies that are regulated by government entities.
Due to its nature, public companies bear the responsibility to its shareholders. Governments regulate the actions of public companies through mandatory reporting standards. According to the legislation, public companies must disclose all information about their operations and performance to the public.
The companies must prepare the annual report to the shareholders in which corporate information is disclosed. These types of reports include financial data, results of operations, market segment information, new product plans, subsidiary activities, and research and development activities on future programs. The annual reports to the shareholders are usually posted on company’s website.
In the United States, the regulatory entity called the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Public companies must submit their filings to the SEC on a regular basis. SEC filings are comprehensive documents that include a fundamental information about the company and its operations. For the purpose of financial modeling, the most relevant filings for an analyst are:
| Filing | Description |
|---|---|
| Registration Statements | A description of the company’s properties and business; a description of the security to be offered for sale; information about the management of the company; financial statements certified by independent accountants |
| 10-K | Annual report outlining a comprehensive overview of the company’s business and financial condition. 10-K includes audited financial statements. |
| 10-Q | Quarterly report with a continuing view of the company’s financial position during the year. 10-Q includes unaudited financial statements. |
| 8-K | Report of current events to announce major events that shareholders should know about. |
| Schedule 13-D | Reports acquisition of beneficial ownership of more than 5% of a voting class of a company’s equity securities by a person or a group of persons. |
| Proxy Statements | Statements filed by companies prior to shareholders meetings to provide shareholders with information necessary to make informed decisions. |
| Form 3 | Filed by the corporate insiders (company’s officers and directors) who are registering equity securities for the first time. |
| Form 4 | Filed after a material change in the holdings of company insiders. |
| Form 5 | Filed by an insider who conducted insider transactions during the year that were not previously reported in a Form 4. |
All the submitted filings may be retrieved from the EDGAR database maintained by the SEC.
In Canada, public companies follow the similar process as US-based public companies. Even though the Canadian system of securities regulation is not unified and each province runs its own regulatory entity, there is a single database (SEDAR) that contains all the forms filled by the publicly traded companies across the country. The U.S. and Canadian filings comparison is listed in the table below:
| U.S. Filings | Canadian Filings |
|---|---|
| 10-K | Annual Report, Annual Information Form, Management Proxy Circular |
| 10-Q | Interim Financial Statement |
| 8-K | Material Change Report |
In the U.K., all publicly traded companies (Public Limited Companies or PLC’s) must submit required filings to Companies House, which is a registrar of the companies. On the Companies House website, you may find the database of the filings submitted by companies registered in the U.K. The companies submit the annual reports, statements of annual return, and announcements of major events.
In Japan, one of the largest financial markets in Asia, regulation of public companies is very strict. Every public company must comply with the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act and submit their financial statements, internal control reports, and quarterly reports audited by CPA’s to Financial Services Agency (FSA). FSA is a Japanese government agency and regulator of the country’s financial system. Companies provide the necessary filings to FSA online through the EDINET system. This system is available online to the public.
Data sources: Financial databases
Companies such as Bloomberg, Capital IQ, and Thompson Reuters provide powerful databases of financial data. These databases provide access to various types of financial information, including historical financials from financial statements. Financial databases allow you to analyze the historical data and easily export the data into Excel. However, financial statements retrieved from these databases tend to be in a standardized format. Thus, if the company uses an accounting value unique to its business operations, you will not grasp it from data retrieved and it will affect your analysis.
Nevertheless, financial databases are great sources of other types of data that may be helpful in financial modeling. Key economic factors, M&A transactions, comparables analysis, analysis of securities including equities, bonds, and derivatives, reports of analysts are part of the useful tool may be used in financial modeling.