Create Reports - Comparison Reporting

Two forms of Comparison Report are available. They compare the currently selected company with:

1. The industry average, using the total revenues of the companies. You can choose whether the peer list is based on NAICS, SIC, or MIC codes and whether they are worldwide peers or peers within the same country as your target company.
2. A custom group of companies chosen from your Company Analysis List.

The Company Analysis List is a list of companies that you can build during a Mergent Online session. The Company Detail and Company Financial pages have a link that enables you to add the currently selected company to the Company Analysis List.

To compare the company with the industry average

1. Choose the Compare Company Against Industry link in the page.
   This will display the Comparison Reporting Selection Screen window.
2. In the Peer Group Selection box you can choose the Industry Classification code used to build the peer group and the Scope of the peer group.
3. In the Select Comparison Report Type block, select the group of companies against which you wish to compare the currently selected company.
   These can be all companies or the top or bottom 10, 25 or 50 companies, based on total revenues.
4. Check-off the ‘Use extended report items…’ check-box to choose which data items you want displayed for each company. Once checked the Report Item Selection box will be displayed.
   Note If you create the report without specifying any extended report items you will get a list of companies and their current Total Revenue values.
5. In the Report Item Selection box, select a category from the first drop-down menu and a sub-category from the second drop-down menu.
6. Choose the Add Report Item button.
   The selected sub-category name will be added to the Report Criteria list box.
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 for any other item you wish to add to the report.
8. To remove an item from a report, select it in the Report Criteria list box and choose the Remove button.
9. To change the column position of an item in a report, select it in the Report Criteria list box and choose the Move Up or Move Down button.
10. Use the ‘include average in heading’ check-box to display the averages for the numerical valued data items you chose to be displayed.
11. In the ‘Which year(s)?’ drop-down menu you can choose which years information is displayed for all the companies.
    Note: Multiple years can be chosen to be displayed in the report:
       -To select individual years: Hold the Ctrl key on the keyboard and single left click on each desired year. This will highlight the selected years.
       -To select a range of years: Single click on the first year then hold the Shift key on the keyboard and click on the last year in the range to highlight them all.
12. If multiple years are selected use the Result Format options to choose how the report will be displayed:
    
    1. Years Across: The yearly values for each data item selected will be displayed in consecutive columns across the report.
    2. Years Down: The report and selected data items will be broken up by year. The list of copanies will be repeated down the report where each list will be a single year's worth of the values for the selected data items.
13. When ready, choose Create Report to start the report generation process.
    This will display a report in a window. A discussion of the features available in this window is given below.
14. When you have finished viewing the report, choose the Close Report button or the Close link to remove the report window.
    This will return you to the Comparison Reporting Selection Screen window, where you can create further reports if you wish.
15. When finished, choose the Close button to remove the Comparison Reporting Selection Screen window.

To compare the company with a custom group

1. Choose the Compare Company Against Custom Group link in the page.
   This will display the Company Analysis Criteria Selection Screen window.
2. The Company Listing block will show the companies in the current Company Analysis List. Clear the check boxes in front of the names of those companies that you do not wish to include in the report.
   All the companies in the current Company Analysis List will be selected by default. Note that you must leave at least two companies selected in the list to be able to produce a valid report.
3. In the Report Item Selection block, select a category from the first drop-down menu and a sub-category from the second drop-down menu.
4. Choose the Add Report Item button.
   The selected sub-category name will be added to the Report Criteria list box.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for any other item you wish to add to the report.
6. To remove an item from a report, select it in the Report Criteria list box and choose the Remove button.
7. To change the column position of an item in a report, select it in the Report Criteria list box and choose the Move Up or Move Down button.
8. Use the ‘include average in heading’ check-box to display the averages for the numerical valued data items you chose to be displayed.
9. In the ‘Which year(s)?’ drop-down menu you can choose which years information is displayed for all the companies.
   Note: Multiple years can be chosen to be displayed in the report:
      -To select individual years: Hold the Ctrl key on the keyboard and single left click on each desired year. This will highlight the selected years.
      -To select a range of years: Single click on the first year then hold the Shift key on the keyboard and click on the last year in the range to highlight them all.
10. If multiple years are selected use the Result Format options to choose how the report will be displayed:
    
    1. Years Across: The yearly values for each data item selected will be displayed in consecutive columns across the report.
    2. Years Down: The report and selected data items will be broken up by year. The list of copanies will be repeated down the report where each list will be a single year's worth of the values for the selected data items.
11. When ready, choose Create Report to start the report generation process.
    This will display a report in a window. A discussion of the features available in this window is given below.
12. When you have finished viewing the report, choose the Close Report button or the Close link to remove the report window.
    This will return you to the Comparison Reporting Criteria Selection Screen window, where you can create further reports if you wish.
13. When finished, choose the Close button to remove the Comparison Reporting Criteria Selection Screen window.

Viewing a Report

The following features are available in Comparison Report windows:

• If the report is longer than one page, you can move between the pages using the Next and Previous buttons or by Go-ing to a specified page number.
• More report columns can be seen on the screen by viewing it at a smaller scale. Use the View drop-down menu to change the scaling.
• The data in a report can be sorted on the values in any column by using the arrowhead buttons next to the title of that column.
• The report can be printed or downloaded to spreadsheet using the Print or Download links.