Compustat annual contains annual report data for most all publicly traded firms in the USA and that trade on USA Exchanges. The basic tape is a combination of the primary, secondary, tertiary and full coverage files over the last 20 years. The historical tape goes back to 1950 with far fewer firms for example in 1967 only 2,000 have data. The research tape contains firms that have ceased to exist (merger, bankruptcy, etc.) This data are available for the Industrials that include the vast majority of firms. Rutgers also has the Canadian file and the Bank file for the most recent 20 years. We now also have the PDE tape that gives monthly stock prices and dividends. We do not have the Utility tape.

To obtain access to COMPUSTAT manuals and programs as well as using data, an RU computer account is required. [Access COMPUSTAT]