university of chicago library - federal reserve bank of st. louis · 2019. 3. 18. ·...
TRANSCRIPT
![Page 1: University of Chicago Library - Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis · 2019. 3. 18. · Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review (Hunt’s) 1839-1870 Absorbed by Commercial and Financial](https://reader036.vdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022071416/61125524da195568105665c1/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Financial data before the SEC:Going beyond Moody’s
Greg FlemingUniversity of Chicago Library
![Page 2: University of Chicago Library - Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis · 2019. 3. 18. · Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review (Hunt’s) 1839-1870 Absorbed by Commercial and Financial](https://reader036.vdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022071416/61125524da195568105665c1/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
Applying current practice to historical research
From Barzun, Jacques, and Henry F. Graff. 1985. The Modern Researcher. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Presentmindedness
![Page 3: University of Chicago Library - Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis · 2019. 3. 18. · Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review (Hunt’s) 1839-1870 Absorbed by Commercial and Financial](https://reader036.vdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022071416/61125524da195568105665c1/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
Companies must disclose financials
Accounting standards mean uniform reporting
Current Practice
![Page 4: University of Chicago Library - Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis · 2019. 3. 18. · Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review (Hunt’s) 1839-1870 Absorbed by Commercial and Financial](https://reader036.vdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022071416/61125524da195568105665c1/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
Disclosure avoided and not required
Accounting standards developing, but not universally adopted
Past Practice
![Page 5: University of Chicago Library - Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis · 2019. 3. 18. · Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review (Hunt’s) 1839-1870 Absorbed by Commercial and Financial](https://reader036.vdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022071416/61125524da195568105665c1/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
"The Delaware Lackawanna R.R. Co., make no reports and publish no statements and have done nothing of the sort for the last five years.“
In response to request from the NYSE, 1866McLaren, Norman. Annual Reports to Stockholders; Their Preparation and Interpretation.New York,: Ronald Press Co., 1947.
![Page 6: University of Chicago Library - Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis · 2019. 3. 18. · Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review (Hunt’s) 1839-1870 Absorbed by Commercial and Financial](https://reader036.vdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022071416/61125524da195568105665c1/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
Sources
![Page 7: University of Chicago Library - Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis · 2019. 3. 18. · Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review (Hunt’s) 1839-1870 Absorbed by Commercial and Financial](https://reader036.vdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022071416/61125524da195568105665c1/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
First issued early 1830’s No uniform requirements Many corporations issued no reports
Annual Reports
![Page 8: University of Chicago Library - Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis · 2019. 3. 18. · Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review (Hunt’s) 1839-1870 Absorbed by Commercial and Financial](https://reader036.vdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022071416/61125524da195568105665c1/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
Annual report of the Chicago and North Western Railway Company for the ... fiscal year ending May 31st, 1879
![Page 9: University of Chicago Library - Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis · 2019. 3. 18. · Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review (Hunt’s) 1839-1870 Absorbed by Commercial and Financial](https://reader036.vdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022071416/61125524da195568105665c1/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
Develop as a resource for business to business transactions Two major players R.G. DunWilliam Bradstreet
Not a good source for financials
Credit Agencies
![Page 10: University of Chicago Library - Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis · 2019. 3. 18. · Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review (Hunt’s) 1839-1870 Absorbed by Commercial and Financial](https://reader036.vdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022071416/61125524da195568105665c1/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
Bradstreet's book of commercial ratings of bankers, merchants, manufacturers, etc., in the United States and the Dominion of Canada ...New York, J.M. Bradstreet and Son, 1863
![Page 11: University of Chicago Library - Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis · 2019. 3. 18. · Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review (Hunt’s) 1839-1870 Absorbed by Commercial and Financial](https://reader036.vdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022071416/61125524da195568105665c1/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
Primarily canal and railroad companies
State Public Utility Agencies
![Page 12: University of Chicago Library - Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis · 2019. 3. 18. · Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review (Hunt’s) 1839-1870 Absorbed by Commercial and Financial](https://reader036.vdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022071416/61125524da195568105665c1/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
Annual report of the Railroad and Warehouse Commission of Illinois, 1879
![Page 13: University of Chicago Library - Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis · 2019. 3. 18. · Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review (Hunt’s) 1839-1870 Absorbed by Commercial and Financial](https://reader036.vdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022071416/61125524da195568105665c1/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
Required disclosure for listing of securities
Listing Statements published beginning in 1884
New York Stock Exchange
![Page 14: University of Chicago Library - Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis · 2019. 3. 18. · Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review (Hunt’s) 1839-1870 Absorbed by Commercial and Financial](https://reader036.vdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022071416/61125524da195568105665c1/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
Listing Statements New York Stock ExchangeNew York, Francis E. Fitch, 1906
![Page 15: University of Chicago Library - Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis · 2019. 3. 18. · Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review (Hunt’s) 1839-1870 Absorbed by Commercial and Financial](https://reader036.vdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022071416/61125524da195568105665c1/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
Listing Statements New York Stock ExchangeNew York, Francis E. Fitch, 1906
![Page 16: University of Chicago Library - Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis · 2019. 3. 18. · Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review (Hunt’s) 1839-1870 Absorbed by Commercial and Financial](https://reader036.vdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022071416/61125524da195568105665c1/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
Developed as a resource for investors Most popular manual published by Henry Poor Emphasis is on railroads
Industrial Manuals
![Page 17: University of Chicago Library - Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis · 2019. 3. 18. · Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review (Hunt’s) 1839-1870 Absorbed by Commercial and Financial](https://reader036.vdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022071416/61125524da195568105665c1/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
Poor's manual of railroads of the United StatesNew York, H.V. & H.W. Poor, 1880
![Page 18: University of Chicago Library - Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis · 2019. 3. 18. · Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review (Hunt’s) 1839-1870 Absorbed by Commercial and Financial](https://reader036.vdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022071416/61125524da195568105665c1/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
First manual published in 1900 Bankruptcy following the Panic on 1907 Relaunched in 1909 1909 – 1924, there are two different Moody’s
Manuals
Moody and his Manuals
![Page 19: University of Chicago Library - Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis · 2019. 3. 18. · Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review (Hunt’s) 1839-1870 Absorbed by Commercial and Financial](https://reader036.vdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022071416/61125524da195568105665c1/html5/thumbnails/19.jpg)
Moody’s Manual of Railroads and Corporation Securities (1900-1924) Becomes Poor’s in 1925
Moody's Analyses of Railroad Investments (1909-1912) Moody's Analyses of Investments (1913-1924) Moody's Manual of Investments (1925 –
And all the variants that came after…
The Two Moodys
![Page 20: University of Chicago Library - Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis · 2019. 3. 18. · Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review (Hunt’s) 1839-1870 Absorbed by Commercial and Financial](https://reader036.vdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022071416/61125524da195568105665c1/html5/thumbnails/20.jpg)
![Page 21: University of Chicago Library - Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis · 2019. 3. 18. · Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review (Hunt’s) 1839-1870 Absorbed by Commercial and Financial](https://reader036.vdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022071416/61125524da195568105665c1/html5/thumbnails/21.jpg)
Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review (Hunt’s) 1839-1870 Absorbed by Commercial and Financial Chronicle
Commercial and Financial Chronicle1865-1987 Financial Review, annual summary Various compendia
The Economist (Chicago)1888-2007 (title changed to Realty and Building in 1946)
Secondary Sources – more than just the WSJ
![Page 22: University of Chicago Library - Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis · 2019. 3. 18. · Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review (Hunt’s) 1839-1870 Absorbed by Commercial and Financial](https://reader036.vdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022071416/61125524da195568105665c1/html5/thumbnails/22.jpg)
Commercial and Financial Chronicle, August 21, 1880 , Vol. 31, No. 791
Image extracted from FRASER, https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/scribd/?item_id=528507&filepath=/docs/publications/cfc/cfc_18800821.pdf
![Page 23: University of Chicago Library - Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis · 2019. 3. 18. · Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review (Hunt’s) 1839-1870 Absorbed by Commercial and Financial](https://reader036.vdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022071416/61125524da195568105665c1/html5/thumbnails/23.jpg)
Libraries HathiTrustOther Repositories FRASER, for example
Commercial ProductsMergent, ProQuest
Where do I find this stuff?
![Page 24: University of Chicago Library - Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis · 2019. 3. 18. · Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review (Hunt’s) 1839-1870 Absorbed by Commercial and Financial](https://reader036.vdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022071416/61125524da195568105665c1/html5/thumbnails/24.jpg)
Currently available at http://home.uchicago.edu/~gdf/financial/bibliography.html Guide coming soon
Annotated Bibliography