At some point in our lives, we have all referred to an encyclopedia. During our school years, writing a paper meant doing our research at the local library, unless you were fortunate to have your own set of encyclopedias at home. The topics of our papers were generally geared toward information on past presidents, history, cultures of other countries, as well as inventions and technology. The process of finding information was tedious. Before you knew it, stacks and stacks of encyclopedias were on your desk.
Today, it is simpler to do research. All you need is a personal computer and a telephone line, and you're just a click away from an enormous amount of information.
As I gather my research and get data for an upcoming special-the OGJ200, which ranks the top 200 oil and gas companies with reserves in the US-I find the internet to be a vital tool for completing this report. Today, most companies rely on their web pages to disperse information to the media, the public, and their shareholders.
Company web site data
For editors of this magazine, the internet is crucial. It is likely that all of us use the internet almost daily to obtain information about a company, whether to do research for a news or technical article or to double-check facts.
The news staff may refer to the section of a company's home page relating to the pressroom or news. Archived press releases ranging from earnings reports to new discoveries, as well as key personnel additions, would be located there. Larger companies may even have a photo gallery. The exploration editor may go to the section of the web page that is devoted to a company's upstream areas of operations, which may include detailed maps of where activities of drilling or production are taking place. Products and services links on an integrated firm's web pages could assist the refining-petrochemical editor by giving refining capacities and locations as well as the products that the firm manufactures.
As statistics editor, I frequently refer to the investor relations portion of the web site. Financial analysts and business experts may also find this section very useful in their line of work. Most companies will have market data, company reports, earnings, and stock information as well as Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Their sites may link you to the SEC web site that utilizes the EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval) system. Other links are to business web sites, such as Hoover's (www.hoovers.com) or Free Edgar (www.freeedgar.com). These sites are offer free data; however, some data links are for subscribers only.
Another important area of a company site is one for contacting key personnel. This is very useful when you need to track a name down to double-check figures, conduct interviews, or to discuss business opportunities. These contacts may even provide a direct link to their e-mail addresses to which one can send an inquiry.
Public use
A company provides such useful information on its web site for more reasons than just media access.
There are several links that provide information to the general public. One might go to a major oil company's web page to apply for a credit card or check a credit card balance. Students seeking a job in the oil industry may look for employment on the human resources web page that posts job openings.
Shareholders of the company may want to check on stock prices or dividend yields. This is an excellent way of doing research to investigate how the company is doing financially. There are several sections devoted to what the company will be doing in the future. Knowing a company's background, any legal complications that may alter financial performance, or safety and environmental issues and policies are relevant to shareholders. These are key points needed for investing smartly.
Impressive vs. simple
While scouting through over 100 company web pages, I found that there is a broad range of presentation techniques used to disperse company information and data.
Some spend a lot of money for their information technology departments to develop a very impressive web page, utilizing graphics, color, animation, and video as well as sound to keep you interested in their company.
Others-not necessarily smaller companies with smaller budgets-spend less time and money on their site. They keep it simple and to the point.
Research made easy
Several years ago, the statistics editor would have to make a trip to Washington, DC, to go directly to where physical filings are housed at the SEC office and make copies of the 10-K reports needed to complete the OGJ200 report.
Now, I can sit comfortably at my desk and get it straight from the company's web site or the SEC's EDGAR site. All at my convenience, any time of day.
