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Brief Description: Compustat Research Insight is a database compiled by Standard & Poor's that contains 20 years of financial statements and market summaries on 11,000 North American companies.

Access Restrictions: Students, Faculty, Staff may use
Alumni and Visitors may not use.

Citing Articles
Help
Basic Steps
Downloading in Excel
Retrieving Canned Reports
Companies by SIC
Calculating Industry Averages
Advanced Search
Scope

MLA Style Examples:

Compustat Research Insight. CD-ROM. Standard & Poor's. February 2003. Babson 

College Horn Lib., Babson Park, MA.

There are several guides available in Horn 110 to help you use Research Insight including "Getting Started", "Beyond the Basics", "Report & Chart Library" and the "Data Guide". In addition, online help is available including definitions of the data items.

Standard & Poor's Research Insight Getting Started (North America)
(Adobe pdf format)
Cover Page
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 - Getting Started
Chapter 2 - Navigating Research Insight
Chapter 3 - Screening COMPUSTAT (North America) with the Research Assistant
Chapter 4 - Reports
Chapter 5 - Charts
Chapter 6 - Customizing
Chapter 7 - Using Formulas and Functions
Chapter 8 - Current and Historical Data
Chapter 9 - Library
Chapter 10 - Using Standard and Poor's Research Insight with Excel
Chapter 11 - Importing and Downloading
Chapter 12 - COMPUSTAT (Global) Data
Glossary
Index

Standard & Poor's Research Insight Beyond Basics
(Adobe pdf format)
Cover Page
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 - Welcome to Beyond Basics
Chapter 2 - Adding Data Items
Chapter 3 - Editing and Assigning Data Values
Chapter 4 - Adding Companies
Chapter 5 - Adding Segments and Issues
Chapter 6 - Exporting
Chapter 7 - Adding and Editing Concepts
Chapter 8 - Adding and Editing Currencies
Chapter 9 - Creating Reports in Excel
Chapter 10 - Managing Your Databases
Chapter 11 - Managing Core Database Downloads
Chapter 12 - Sharing Databases on a Network
Chapter 13 - Daily Updates, Earnings Estimates and Value-Added Data
Chapter 14 - COMPUSTAT (Classic)

Standard & Poor's Research Insight Report and Chart Library (North America)
(Adobe pdf format)
Table of Contents
Introduction to Report Library
Reports in the Balance Sheet Folder
Reports in the Cash Flow Statements Folder
Reports in the Common Size Statements Folder
Reports in the Comparative Reports Folder
Reports in the Credit Reports and Models Folder
Reports in the Earnings Estimates Folder
Reports in the Financial Services Reports Folder
Reports in the Geographic Areas Folder
Reports in the Income Statement Folder
Reports in the Insider Trading Folder
Reports in the Institutional Holdings Folder
Reports in the Line of Business Folder
Reports in the Market Reports Folder
Reports in the Miscellaneous Folder
Reports in the Ratio Reports and Models Folder
Reports in the Restated Reports Folder
Reports in the Sector & Industry Reports Folder
Reports in the Transfer Pricing Folder
Reports in the Trend Folder
Reports in the Valuation Folder
Excel Templates
Introduction to Chart Library
Charts in the Fundamental Folder
Charts in the Line of Business Folder
Charts in the Market Folder
Charts in the Peer Folder
Charts in the Pricing Folder

You can access Compustat database directly through Excel or through the Research Insight software.

The Research Assistant allows you to search the Compustat database for companies that meet your specific screening criteria.

1. Opening the Research Insight software, you will see a Welcome to Research Insight startup window, click on Research Assistant.  In Excel, click on S&P on the toobar. Choose Research Assistant.
2. The Research Assistant - Step 1 window will appear. This window will allow you to choose specific screening criteria and then search for companies in the Compustat database that match those criteria. You can create your own screen by searching for related companies, set criteria for financial indicators, and change the Initial Set of companies that will be evaluated in the screen. Click Next when you are done choosing your criteria.
3. This will bring you to the Research Assistant - Step 2 window which will display the set of companies that passed your screening criteria. By clicking under Display Mode, you can display the set of companies by company name or ticker symbol. To remove a company from the set, highlight the company name(s) and click on Remove Company. To add a company to the set, type in the name of the company in the blank field under Add Company to Set and then click on the Add Company button. Click Next when you have finished modifying your search.
4. The Research Assistant - Step 3 window will appear giving the following options:

   Report Assistant allows you to create a custom report based on the companies that passed your screening criteria.

   Chart Assistant allows you to create a custom chart based on the companies that passed your screening criteria.

   Open Report allows you to open one of over 100 pre-defined reports.

   Open Chart allows you to open a pre-defined chart based on the companies that passed your screening criteria.

   Company Highlights allows you to run the Company Highlights report for the companies that passed your screening criteria.

   Finish returns you to the Research Insight desktop.

   After you have selected one of the buttons, click Next and choose the data items to be included in your report.

NOTE: If using the Excel plug-in, you can only download information on up to 5461 companies at a time. There is also a 240 column limit in Excel. Use Research Insight and save as a comma delimited file for datasets larger that 5461 companies.

After you have run a report, click on the broken chain icon on the toolbar. This will Unlink the Arrays and create a new worksheet: Worksheet 4.  Save Worksheet 4 which contains numbers. Worksheet 1 contains formulas when saved.

To save once you have designed and run your report:

1. Click File, Save As or the disk icon.

2. In the next window, choose either the A:/ or K:/ drive.

3. Name your report and add .csv extension. i.e. test.csv

4. Click on the box to the lower right, TEXT OPTIONS.

5. In the next window: Choose Comma, Use Quotes, Use Labels.

6. Click OK.

7. Click Save.

Your report will open in Excel without going through the wizard. Re-save as a .xls file.

There are over 100 predefined reports that are most often used.
You may open them using the Research Insight software or open them using Excel.

To open using the Research Insight:

1. Click the Open Report button (6th icon down on the left). A list of reports appears. Select the report you want by double clicking on it.
2. The "Run Assistant" window opens. Enter your company ticker symbol or several symbols separated by commas. If you do not know the symbol click the Lookup box to the right.
3. The report is in text format. You may save it to read in Excel. Click File...Save and choose your drive.

To open using Excel:

1. Begin with Excel open.
2. From the S&P icon at the top of the menu bar select Welcome to Research Insight.
3. Choose Open Report.
4. A list of reports appears. Select the report you want by double clicking on it.
5. Enter your company ticker symbol or several symbols separated by commas. If you do not know the ticker symbol click the Lookup box to the right.
6. It automatically opens the report in Excel.

1. Click the Research Assistant (1st icon on top left row).
2. Click "Don't find similar companies" on the bottom left.
3. On the far right click Company and check the box next to SIC on the bottom.
4. Choose the SIC code(s) you want by using the drop down menus with the descriptions of the SICs.
5. Click Next and your list of companies appears.
6. To build a Report with specific data items for these companies click Next and choose the type of report you want.
7. On the next screen select the *Item Group that contains your Data Items and choose the individual data items by highlighting each and clicking Add and then Finish.

*If you do not see the Item Group you want click the Customize button.

1. Open Compustat via Research Insight (not via Excel).
2. Follow steps one to seven above to find companies listed by SIC code.
3. Under Report Assistant, choose the report format: Historical Analysis, Items vs. Companies. Then choose your data items. Click the Formula button on the left and choose Format from the top menu bar, then choose Table...Statistics and check the box marked Average. At this time you may choose to only show the average without the list of companies by checking the box marked "Show Summary Statistics Only".
4. Click the Running Man icon on the top menu bar. This brings you back to the Run Assistant screen. Just click O.K. and your list will appear again with the average at the bottom.
5. To save the data, follow the instructions above to save in Excel compatible format.

For more complex searches, users should consult the reference manuals (Horn 110 HG4050.C65) mentioned above, a reference librarian or their finance professor.

Compustat Research Insight is a database compiled by Standard & Poor's that contains 20 years of financial statements and market summaries on 11,000 North American companies. Research Insight is your guide to market knowledge with built-in assistants that allow you to:

• Screen for companies that meet key criteria
• Compare companies against their peers and indexes
• Drill down to examine a company's fundamentals in-depth
• Create your own reports, dynamic charts, and more

If you wish you can do all your screening, report building and charting in Excel. The data available are updated quarterly (end of January, April, July and October).

Updated August 08, 2006
By Cynthia Robinson