Business

The fundamental purposes of the Small Business Administration are to aid, counsel, assist, and protect the interests of small business.

Business.gov guides you through the maze of government rules and regulations and provides access to services and resources to help you start, grow, and succeed in business.

Published since 1878, this is the authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States. Sources of data include the Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Economic Analysis, and many other Federal agencies and private organizations.

Commonly known as the Beige Book, this report is published eight times per year. Each Federal Reserve Bank gathers anecdotal information on current economic conditions in its District through reports from Bank and Branch directors and interviews with key business contacts, economists, market experts, and other sources. The Beige Book summarizes this information by District and sector.

Statistics from over 100 federal agencies. Select “All Topics and Services,” in the upper left. then select the topic area in which you are interested.

The Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA) releases 12 monthly and quarterly Principal Federal Economic Indicators collected by its constituent bureaus: the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Businesses rely heavily upon these indicators to make decisions every day. In their public comments, the Secretary and ESA’s Under Secretary and Chief Economist put the indicators into a national and global economic context.

The Department of Commerce encourages, serves, and promotes the Nation's international trade, economic growth, and technological advancement. The Department provides a wide variety of programs through the competitive free enterprise system.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is responsible for administering and enforcing the internal revenue laws and related statutes, except those relating to alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and explosives. Its mission is to collect the proper amount of tax revenue at the least cost to the public, and in a manner that warrants the highest degree of public confidence in the Service's integrity, efficiency, and fairness.

Data on national and international gross domestic product, trade, corporate profits, goods and services.

The Department of the Treasury performs four basic functions: formulating and recommending economic, financial, tax, and fiscal policies; serving as financial agent for the U.S. Government; enforcing the law; and manufacturing coins and currency.

The Securities and Exchange Commission administers Federal securities laws that seek to provide protection for investors; to ensure that securities markets are fair and honest; and, when necessary, to provide the means to enforce securities laws through sanctions.
(Source: The United States Government Manual)

Free access to more than 21 million filings on public companies.

The Federal Trade Commission has jurisdiction to enhance consumer welfare and protect competition in broad sectors of the economy. The Commission enforces the laws that prohibit business practices that are anti-competitive, deceptive, or unfair to consumers; promotes informed consumer choice and public understanding of the competitive process; and seeks to accomplish its mission without impeding legitimate business activity.

Part of the World Bank, this database gives detailed and practical advice to business owners wanting to establish companies in foreign countries.

Overviews of topics relevant to small business. Entries include bibliography.

Actual business plans written by entrepreneurs in North America who are seeking financing for their business. Plans include strategies, start-up and organizational activities, and other key elements. Searchable by industry.

The Foundation Center is a non-profit organization devoted to serving the information needs of grantmakers and grantseekers. They publish an extensive list of books and provide libraries and training sessions related to the non-profit sector. The Website's Reference Desk has a FAQ page organized by topic, a long list of annotated links for finding online sites related to non-profits, and an online reference librarian who takes questions by e-mail.

Especially helpful for finding historical stock prices for publicly traded companies (under Stock Research, then Historical Quotes). This site offers a wealth of analytical detail on public companies.

Demographic data about the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Island areas.
*This replaces the previous "Fact Finder" website information.

"Latest real estate prices and sales trends, recent home sales, a home value estimator, hundreds of thousands of maps, satellite photos, demographic data (race, income, ancestries, education, employment), geographic data, state profiles, crime data, registered sex offenders, cost of living, housing, religions, businesses, local news links based on our exclusive technology, birthplaces of famous people, political contributions, city government finances, employment, weather, natural disasters, hospitals, schools and libraries." --From the Website

Provides data on the total number of establishments, mid-March employment, first quarter and annual payroll, and number of establishments by nine employment-size classes by detailed industry for all counties in the United States and the District of Columbia.

Economic and business data based on U.S. Census information.