Chris Roush presents "Finding Information about Private Companies," part of the free, daylong workshop, "Uncovering the Best Local Businesses," which is geared toward community and local journalists on a budget. For more information about free training for business journalists, please visit businessjournalism.org.

1. Finding information about
private companies
April 12, 2013
Fayetteville, Ark.
Chris Roush
croush@email.unc.edu

2. Public vs. Private
• Business reporters spend a lot of time writing
stories about publicly traded companies who
file documents with the SEC
• Makes it easier to cover business, because
lots of information is disclosed.
• Does it make reporters lazy? In some cases, I
would argue yes.

3. Private companies
n Smaller companies are the backbone of local
economies.
n 22.9 million, according to the U.S. Small
Business Administration.
n Small businesses provide 75 percent of the
net new jobs added to the economy, and
represent 99.7 percent of all employers.
n More than half of the private work force is
employed by a small business, which
accounted for 52 percent of the private sector
output.

4. Private companies
n Can sometimes be harder to find
information about private companies.
n If you look hard enough though, you’ll
find what you’re looking for.
n Many private companies will disclose
the information somewhere, to
someone.

5. Private companies
n Don’t be afraid to
ask.
n When someone
tells you no, keep
digging.

6. Some basic places to look

7. The beauty of checking up
n A developer came to Nashville and proposed
building an amusement park.
n Annie Johnson of the Nashville Business Journal
looked into his background.
n She found a trail of unpaid bills, bounced checks,
evictions, troubled business associates and
unfulfilled plans.
n She got to write sentences like this: “In a 2006
letter related to the purchase of the San Diego
property, Peterson said he received a master’s
degree in business administration from Harvard
University. (Harvard’s MBA Registrar has no
record that Peterson attended the school.)”

8. State records
n The Secretary of State’s office has
records on every business incorporated
in Arkansas.
n http://www.sosweb.state.ar.us/corps/
n Here you can search by company
name, new corporations or by
registered agent.

9. Secretary of State records
n You can also search Secretary of State
records to get similar information for
other operations.
n These include non-profit entities, limited
liability corporations such as law firms
and limited partnerships, and notaries
public.

10. What this will show you
n Incorporation records give you a listing
of a businesses officers, or executives.
n It will also give you a mailing address
and a phone number.
n Has their license expired? If it has, that
could be a sign of financial trouble.

11. Occupational Licensing Boards
n There are regulatory boards that govern
dozens of industries in Arkansas.
n They range from acupuncture to X-ray
technicians.
n These boards have Web sites where you can
also find information about businesses in
these industries.
n http://portal.arkansas.gov/government/
Pages/governmentAgencies.aspx

12. Licensing board examples
n In August, the Californian wrote about
how the state Contractors State License
Board was finding and fining unlicensed
contractors in the county.

13. County records
n Before any sole proprietorship or partnership
does business in Arkansas under an
assumed name, the business name must be
registered.
n An assumed name is any name other than
the real name of the owner or owners the
business.
n Business names or partnerships must be
filed with the Register of Deeds Office in the
county or counties where it does business.

14. The WARN Act
n Employers who are laying off or firing workers
are required to disclose such moves 60 days
before they do it.
n This is a document filed with the Employment
Security Department.
n Regularly check for WARN act filings.

15. The WARN Act
n An employer must give notice if a plant will be shut
down, and the shutdown will result in an employment
loss for 50 or more employees during any 30-day
period.
n An employer must give notice if there is to be a mass
layoff which does not result from a plant closing, but
which will result in an employment loss at the site
during any 30-day period for 500 or more employees,
or for 50-499 employees if they make up at least 33
percent of the employer's active workforce.

16. Safety and health
n Worker complaints about unsafe or unhealthy
working conditions should be made in writing
to the Occupational Safety and Health
Division.
n The division conducts investigations of
complaints made by workers, investigations
of work-related accidents and deaths, general
schedule inspections of randomly picked
firms, and follow-up inspections of firms
previously cited for OSHA violations.

17. Workplace injuries
n The Occupational Safety and
Health Administration inspects
workplace deaths and injuries.
n http://www.osha.gov/pls/imis/
establishment.html
n This site allows you to look at
accident investigation reports
and inspection reports for
companies by industry.
n Found 254 cases involving
Wal-Mart since August 2007.
n Found only 2 for J.B. Hunt
during the same time period.

18. Workplace injuries
n The
Fort Myers News-Press
reported about an OSHA
investigation into the drowning of
a worker at a country club.
n TheToledo Blade reported that a
construction company in Ohio was
fined $26,100 for failing to prevent
worker safety hazards.

19. My favorites

20. UCC filings
n Who owes money to whom, and how
much?
n These documents are available through
the Secretary of State’s Office in
Arkansas.
n https://www.ark.org/sos/ucc/index.php

21. UCC filings
n A UCC filing occurs when one business sells
something to another business on credit. The
business that sold the tractor to the farmer, for
example, filed a UCC form showing that the tractor is
collateral for the loan.
n If the business that purchased the tractor fails to pay
the loan, the other business can repossess the
tractor. UCC forms can show whether a business is
borrowing a lot of money to make purchases.
n This could be a sign that the company plans to
expand its operations.

22. UCC stories
n When the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette investigated a
church that wanted to redevelop a shopping center, it
looked at its UCC filings and discovered that banks
and other lenders had given it seven loans despite
the fact that it had fallen behind in paying its taxes
and other debts.
n When USA Today researched former WorldCom
leader Bernie Ebbers, it pored through UCC filings
around the country to get a detailed list of everything
he’d invested on or purchased in the past decade.
That helped show the reader where the money he’d
made from WorldCom had gone.

23. Non-profit organizations
n Even though they’re not in operation to make
money, you can still find out financial
information.
n www.guidestar.org is a Web site with
information about non-profit organizations
across the country.
n Found the financial information for more than
750 non-profits in Fayetteville on this site.
Some of them look like businesses to me.

24. Some Fayetteville non-profits
n Fayetteville Habitat for Humanity had
$516,000 in revenue and $485,000 in
expenses.
n Fayetteville Community Foundation had
revenue of $1.78 million but less than
$60,000 in expenses.
n Fayetteville Youth Center had revenue of
$1.7 million and expenses of $2.1 million.

25. Non-profit organizations
n Form 990 filed with the Internal Revenue Service.
n Form 990 is required to be filed by tax-exempt organizations
with more than $100,000 in annual receipts or total assets of at
least $250,000. Form 990-EZ must be filed by smaller
organizations, with at least $25,000 in annual receipts and total
assets of less than $250,000.
n The forms are public documents that reveal income, expenses,
assets and liabilities; expenditures by program category;
program accomplishments; names of officers, directors and key
employees; compensation paid to officers, directors and key
employees. Most religious organizations are not required to file
Form 990.

26. Non-profit resources
n http://www.grantsmart.com -- A searchable
database for Form 990 filings with the Internal
Revenue Service for more than 60,000
foundations. Can search by name, location or
assets. More than one year may be available.
n http://www.charitynavigator.org -- Has
independent evaluations of more than 2,500
charities. Database can be searched by
category, region or keyword.

27. Non-profit resources
n http://www.give.org -- The Better Business Bureau
Wise Giving Alliance maintains reports on nationally
soliciting charitable organizations that are the subject
of donor inquiries. These reports include an
evaluation of the subject charity in relation to the
voluntary BBB charity standards.
n http://www.internet-prospector.org/charities.htm --
State charities databases on the Web. Some states
do not have an online search for charity information,
while others allow you to search by name or word.

28. Small Business Administration
n Federal agency created to help small business
owners.
n Virtually every small business is private.
n Millions of companies registered with SBA to receive
benefits or to qualify for contracts and business.

29. Small Business Administration
n http://www.sba.gov/gopher/Local-
Information/Small-Business-Investment-
Companies/sbicar.txt
n I found this list of small business
investment companies in Arkansas on
the SBA Web site. (Can do a lot of other
searches here.)

30. Credit unions
n Many cities have dozens of credit unions. Yet
many newspapers don’t write stories about
them.
n Credit union financial information is available
online from the National Credit Union
Administration.
n http://www.ncua.gov/ Click on “Credit Union
Data” on the left-hand menu to find specific
information about any credit union. There are
21 credit unions in Little Rock.

31. Credit unions
n The Dillard’s credit union reported a 44
percent increase in net income in the first
quarter of 2005.
n Northwest Arkansas Credit Union had $6.9
million worth of loans on its books. More than
half of that loan amount is for car loans. Why?
n The Democrat Gazette credit union saw its
profits fall 12 percent due to an increase in
loan loss reserves. But still profitable.

32. Banks
n Regulated by state and federal agencies.
n Data on bank branches -- including private banks --
such as market share is available online.
n http://www.fdic.gov. Go here and click on “Bank
Data” to get market share info.
n http://www3.fdic.gov/idasp//. Find any bank holding
company or location insured by the FDIC. Search
results will tell you the bank’s total deposits and
assets, as well as financial performance.
n Found 13 small, private banks based in Little Rock.

33. Banks
n Lake Hamilton Enterprises Inc. in Little Rock owns
First Team Bank in Heber Springs.
n First Team Bank operates branches using the name
Cleburne County Bank in five counties.
n The main branch in Heber Springs has $53 million in
deposits. But a branch in Quitman only has $8 million
in deposits.
n And one in Center Ridge has but $1.4 million.
n Also useful:
http://banktracker.investigativereportingworkshop.org/

34. Insurance companies
n State insurance departments have tons of financial
information on privately held insurance companies.
Can get revenues, profits and regulatory action.
n Many insurance companies set up subsidiaries for
each state because of varying insurance laws. Can
get Allstate and State Farm results for your state.
n Rate increases make great stories. They affect
everyone. Regularly check with your insurance
department about rate requests.
n Find state insurance department Web sites here:
http://www.naic.org/state_web_map.htm

35. Random Web sites

36. Political campaign
contributions
n How much did Lee Scott give to certain
local political campaigns?
n http://www.followthemoney.org/
n What about federal campaigns?
n http://www.fec.gov/finance/disclosure/
disclosure_data_search.shtml
n The last database goes back to 1980.
Can search company names as well.

37. Lobbying
n Does the company have a lobbyist, and how
much are they paying them?
n http://www.opensecrets.org/lobbyists/
index.asp
n The Arkansas Children’s Hospital pays a
lobbyist $40,000 a year.
n The Mercy Health System of Northwest
Arkansas also pays a lobbyist $40,000 a
year.
n But Wal-Mart pays a lobbying firm by the
name of Miller & Chevalier $280,000 a year.

38. Hospital financial data
n http://www.ahd.com/freesearch.php3
n I found financial information for 16 hospitals
in the Little Rock area on this site, including
Baptist Health Medical Center and St. Vincent
Infirmary.
n Found financial information for Arkansas
Children’s Hospital, Arkansas Heart Hospital
and Arkansas State Hospital. Southwest
Regional Medical Center and The Bridgeway
Hospital as well.
n This is a subscriber site.

39. Patents and trademarks
n http://patents.uspto.gov/
n Type in a company’s name and see what
they’re getting patents for.
n Wal-Mart has received 22 trademarks in
recent years, including one for the “Wal-Mart
Eco Program” in March. The trademark for
the “Wal-Mart Money Center Check-Free
Banking” was abandoned by National
Commercial Financial Corp. in March.
n Information in the patent application goes a
long way in explaining what a business does
– or is planning to do.

40. The EPA
n http://www.epa.gov -- Click on the docket to
the left on the home page to see Federal
Register notices, support documents and
public comments for regulations the agency
publishes and various non-regulatory
activities.
n Also a nice search engine of environmental
information available by ZIP Code, which lists
EPA regulated businesses.

41. Toxic waste
n http://www.epa.gov/tri/tridata/data/basicplus/
index.html -- The Toxic Release Inventory is a
database of information about releases and transfers
of toxic chemicals from manufacturing facilities.
n Facilities must report their releases of a toxic
chemical if they fulfill four criteria. This can be
searched by geographic regions as well as by facility,
parent company and industry.

42. Activists
n http://activistcash.com/ -- Profiles anti-
consumer activist groups, along with
information about the sources of their
exorbitant funding.
n Breaks them up among activist groups,
foundations, celebrities and major
individual players in the activist
community.

43. Amusement parks/rides
n http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/
amuse.pdf -- This file lists who regulates
amusement park rides on a state-by-
state basis.

44. EEOC
n http://www.eeoc.gov -- The Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission
investigates charges against
businesses for unfair employment
practices or discrimination.
n “Litigation” section on the left side of
the page has a link to a monthly report
on all of the actions taken by the
agency.

45. Consumer advocates
n http://www.nasuca.org -- National
Association of State Utility Consumer
Advocates, which represents the
interest of consumers before state and
federal agencies in 40 states and the
District of Columbia.
n Nice list of its testimony and filings.

46. Consumer products
n http://www.planetfeedback.com/ -- Search for
complaints of compliments about any product and
any company at this site.
n If you’re writing about consumer products
companies, the postings here might provide some
story ideas.

47. One last thought
n Good business writers are hard to find.
n Make a name for yourself writing business
stories, and your career will take off.
n A knowledge of how to write business stories
about private companies can be applied to
any beat at a newspaper or any publication.
n Private company coverage will make your
reporting stand out.