Uncovering public information on private companies

April 26, 2012 Chris Roush

croush@email.unc.edu

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.

Private companies •  Small companies are the backbone of local

economies.

•  22.9 million, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.

•  Small businesses provide 75 percent of the net new jobs added to the economy, and represent 99.7 percent of all employers.

•  More than half of the private work force is employed by a small business, which accounted for 52 percent of the private sector output.

• Can sometimes be harder to find information about private companies.

•  If you look hard enough though, you’ll

find what you’re looking for. • Many private companies will disclose the

information somewhere, to someone.

Private companies

• Don’t be afraid to ask. • When someone tells you

no, keep digging.

Private companies

Basic places to look

The beauty of checking up •  A developer came to Nashville and proposed building

an amusement park. •  Annie Johnson of the Nashville Business Journal looked

into his background. •  She found a trail of unpaid bills, bounced checks,

evictions, troubled business associates and unfulfilled plans.

•  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.)”

Where to begin: State records • The Secretary of State’s office has records on every business incorporated in Texas.

• http://www.sos.state.tx.us/corp/sosda/index.shtml

• Here you can search by company name, current officer or by registered agent.

• Texas charges $1 per search.

What this will show you •  Incorporation records give you a listing of

a business’ officers, or executives. •  It will also give you a mailing address and

a phone number. • Has its license expired? If it has, that

could be a sign of financial trouble.

Secretary of State records • You can also search Department of

Secretary of State records to get similar information for other operations.

• These include nonprofit entities, limited

liability corporations such as law firms and limited partnerships.

Occupational Licensing Boards •  There are regulatory

boards that govern dozens of industries in Texas.

•  They range from athletic trainers to teachers.

•  These boards have websites where you can also find information about businesses in these industries.

•  http://www.license.state.tx.us/LicenseSearch/

Licensing board examples •  In April, the Monterey County Weekly

paper in California wrote about how the state Contractors State License Board was finding and fining unlicensed contractors in the county.

• On the same day, across the country in Massachusetts, the Falls River Herald wrote about the local liquor licensing board approving two new restaurants.

Trade Associations •  Most private and small companies also belong to trade

associations. Could be National Federation of Independent Business.

•  These associations may be able to tell you industry-wide figures for the state that put the industry in context.

•  They are also valuable to relay legislative issues concerning these companies.

•  http://dir.yahoo.com/Regional/U_S__States/Texas/Business_and_Economy/ includes Texas Beef Council, Texas Farm Bureau and Texas Trial Lawyers Association.

The WARN Act •  Employers who are laying off or firing workers

are required to disclose such moves 60 days before they do it.

•  This is a document filed with the Texas Workforce Commission.

•  http://www.twc.state.tx.us/svcs/jtpa/warn.html •  UPS notified on Jan. 17 that it would lay off 135

in Carrollton, Texas on April 6.

The WARN Act •  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.

•  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.

Safety and Health •  Worker complaints about unsafe or

unhealthy working conditions are made in writing to the Occupational Safety and Health Division.

•  The division conducts investigations

of complaints made by workers, investigations of work-related accidents and deaths, inspections of randomly picked firms, and follow-up inspections of firms previously cited for OSHA violations.

Workplace injuries •  The Occupational Safety and Health

Administration inspects workplace deaths and injuries: http://www.osha.gov/pls/imis/establishment.html

•  This site allows you to look at accident

investigation reports and inspection reports for companies by industry.

•  Found 8 open cases for American Airlines. The

last one was opened on June 30 and included $29,000 in fines at San Antonio location.

Workplace injuries • The Fort Myers News-Press reported in

April about an OSHA investigation into the drowning of a worker at a country club.

• The Toledo Blade reported in April that a

construction company in Ohio was fined $26,100 for failing to prevent worker safety hazards.

Bankruptcy court •  Northern District of Texas:

http://www.txnb.uscourts.gov/ •  Chapter 11 filings and court dockets online. •  Companies file for bankruptcy court protection

when they can no longer pay their bills. •  Chapter 11 filing will reorganize debt; Chapter

7 is liquidation.

My favorites

UCC Records •  Who owes money to whom, and how much? •  These documents are available through the

Secretary of State’s office in Texas. •  http://www.sos.state.tx.us/corp/sosda/

index.shtml •  $5 fee for UCC downloads.

UCC Records •  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.

•  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.

•  This could be a sign that the company plans to expand its operations.

UCC Records •  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.

•  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 in or purchased in the past decade. That helped show the reader where the money he’d made from WorldCom had gone.

Nonprofit organizations • Even though they’re not in operation to

make money, you can still find out financial information.

• www.guidestar.org is a website with

information about nonprofit organizations across the country.

• Found the financial information for 62 nonprofits in Fort Worth on this site. Some of them look like businesses to me.

Texas nonprofits • Fort Worth Zoological Association had $19.9 million in revenue and $15.6 million in expenses.

•  In comparison, Fort Worth Botanical Society had $796,000 in revenue and $872,000 in expenses.

• Fort Worth Art Association had $8.3 million in revenue and $8.1 million in expenses.

Nonprofit organizations •  Form 990 filed with the Internal Revenue Service. •  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.

•  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.

Small Business Administration

•  Federal agency created to help small business owners.

• Virtually every small business is private. • Millions of companies registered with SBA

to receive benefits or to qualify for contracts and business.

Small Business Administration

• http://dsbs.sba.gov/dsbs/search/dsp_dsbs.cfm

•  I searched for disadvantaged business enterprises in the 817 area code and found 1,637. (Can do a lot of other searches here.)

• U.S. Ply Inc. founded in Fort Worth in 2004

and owned by Mark Egan. Makes roofing materials.

Small Business Administration

• U.S. Robotech Inc. founded in 1987 in Arlington, Texas.

• Company does IT integration. • Has $6 million contract right now with the FAA. Contact for FAA is listed with phone number.

• Had $4 million contract with Nuclear Regulatory Commission before that.

Credit unions • Many cities have dozens of credit unions.

Yet many newspapers don’t write stories about them.

• Credit union financial information is

available online from the National Credit Union Administration.

• http://www.ncua.gov/ Click on “Credit

Union Data” on the left-hand menu to find specific information about any credit union.

Credit unions • Alcon Employees Credit Union in Fort Worth has $34 million in assets.

• Had net income of $187,614in the fourth quarter, up 14 percent from the $169,623 it made in the fourth quarter of 2010.

•  Interest income from loans rose dramatically, but its income from investments fell.

Banks •  Regulated by state and federal agencies. •  Data on bank branches -- including private banks -- such

as market share is available online. •  http://www.fdic.gov. Go here and click on “Bank Data” to

get market share info. •  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.

Banks

• Woodhaven National Bank has two branches in Fort Worth.

• Had net income of $5.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2011, up from $5.1 million in fourth quarter of 2010.

• Loan losses decreased to $658,000 from $872,000 in the year.

• 37 percent of its investment portfolio is in Treasury bills.

Random websites

Political campaign contributions

• How much did Tony Romo give to certain local political campaigns? http://www.followthemoney.org/

• What about federal campaigns?

http://www.tray.com/pml/home.do • The last database goes back to 1980. Can

search company names as well.

Lobbying •  Does the company have lobbyists, and how much

is it paying them? http://www.opensecrets.org/lobbyists/index.asp

•  Texas Border Coalition spent $120,000 in

lobbying last year, double from 2010. •  Texas Instruments spent $1.8 million in

lobbying last year. Annually spends more than $1.5 million.

•  University of Texas spent $802,090 last year, down from the $1.15 million it spent in 2008.

Hospital financial information • http://www.ahd.com/freesearch.php3

• Here’s the list of Fort Worth hospitals that it has financial information for: Baylor All Saints, Cook’s Children, John Peter Smith, Plaza Medical Center, Texas Health Harris, Kindred

• This is a subscriber site, but also offers free data.

Patents and Trademarks •  http://patents.uspto.gov/ •  Type in a company’s name and see what it’s getting

patents for.

•  Texas Instruments has had 17,203 patents assigned to it.

•  Latest was filed Jan. 24 and was for “This invention

time-shares one sounding source across plural user equipment for different sub-frames. This invention uses different sounding periods which are periodic and either non-changing in time or changing in time.”

The EPA • 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.

• Also a nice search engine of environmental

information available by ZIP Code, which lists EPA-regulated businesses.

Toxic Waste •  http://www.epa.gov/tri/ -- The Toxic Release

Inventory is a database of information about releases and transfers of toxic chemicals from manufacturing plants.

•  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.

Activists • http://activistcash.com/ -- Profiles anti-

consumer activist groups, along with information about the sources of their exorbitant funding.

• Breaks them up among activist groups,

foundations, celebrities and major individual players in the activist community.

Amusement parks • http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/

amuse.pdf -- This file lists who regulates amusement park rides on a state-by-state basis.

EEOC • http://www.eeoc.gov -- The Equal

Employment Opportunity Commission investigates charges against businesses for unfair employment practices or discrimination.

•  “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.

Consumer advocates • 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.

• Nice list of its testimony and filings.

Consumer products • http://www.planetfeedback.com/ --

Search for complaints of compliments about any product and any company at this site.

•  If you’re writing about consumer products companies, the postings here might provide some story ideas.

One last thought • Good business writers are hard to find. • Make a name for yourself writing business

stories, and your career will take off. • A knowledge of how to write business

stories about private companies can be applied to any beat at a newspaper or any publication.