Competitor Data Sources
When it comes time to put together the financial section of your business plan, it helps to know how similar businesses perform.
Here’s a list of some great places to go for free (or low cost) financial benchmark data:
- Your industry association—they’re a great source of consolidated industry data and financial benchmarks.
- Internal Revenue Service Corporate Sourcebook: offers summary balance sheet and income statement numbers for all industries by size of company
- Annual reports, 10Ks, and 10Qs of public companies in your industry: Be sure to read the notes to the statements too, some of the best stuff is buried there. While they may have economies of scale that you don’t, their numbers may offer insights into what’s possible
- Bureau of Labor Statistics Labor Productivity and Costs: shows output per hour and unit labor costs by industry.
- Bureau of Labor Statistics Labor Pay and Benefits: provides information on wages, earnings, and benefits by geography, occupation, and industry.
- Bureau of Labor Statistics Labor Producer Price Index: offers production cost trend data by industry.
- US Department of Labor: reports hours, wages, and earnings reports by industry.
- US Census Bureau Economic Census: provides annual and trend data on sales, payroll, and number of employees by industry, product, and geography.
- US Census Business Expense Survey: reports sales, inventories, operating expenses, and gross margin by industry.
- US Census Annual Survey of Manufacturers: covers employment, plant hours, payroll, fringe benefits, capital expenditures, cost of materials, inventories, and energy consumption.
And here are a couple inexpensive sources of industry data:
- Dun & Bradstreet: offers individual company data on sales, employees, net worth, nature of financing, credit worthiness, balance sheet / income statement / ratio data, law suits, public filings, liens, judgments.
- The Risk Management Association (RMA): this is the one your bank probably uses to benchmark your performance. You an order a single report from them or visit your library and look it up for yourself. Ask for the RMA Annual Statement Studies in the reference section of your library.
