Selecting financially sound customers is an important part of building your business. Here are some excellent resources for helping you with this task.

The Credit Research Foundation provides education and data to support the credit functions of its membership. Visit www.crfonline.org for more information.

Dun & Bradstreet, the benchmark financial analysis company, has made a special research offer to Tech Data customers. As a Tech Data customer, you can get definitive financial information at a substantial discount. While this service is not free, it is inexpensive and a great value.

For information contact Debbie Stephenson at Phone: 630-717-2008 Fax: 866-778-9161 or stephenson@dnb.com or visit www.techdata.com/DnB.

An Association of Executives in Finance, Credit & International Business enjoys an international reputation as a business educator and premier provider of business credit intelligence to exporting companies of every size from small and midsize manufacturers to Fortune 500 multi-nationals. Visit www.fcibglobal.com for more information.  

Hoover's Online is a corporate research site that maintains "capsules" on over 13,500 public and private companies worldwide. They also offer more extensive information in their "profiles," which cover more than 3,500 of the world's most influential enterprises. Many other services and kinds of information are available. Some are free, but business use of this site requires a license, and fees are negotiated for each user. Trial memberships are also available.

ICTF – The Association of International Credit and Trade Finance professionals – provides programs and resources designed to support credit professionals’ needs. ICTF members can take advantage of ICTF’s Educational and Networking Events, Global Business Intelligence, Export Assist Center, Talk to an Expert feature, International Credit Reports, Country Reports and Country Intelligence, Publications, Virtual Global Credit Networks, as well as the connections with peers willing to share experience, expertise and best practices.

National Association of Credit Management® was founded in 1896 to promote good laws for sound credit, protect businesses against fraudulent debtors, improve the interchange of credit information, develop better credit practices and methods, and establishes a code of ethics. Visit www.nacm.org for more information.

The Partes Corporation's FreeEDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering Analysis and Retrieval) is a free tool for searching the Securities and Exchange Commission's data base of corporate financial information. You can look up company profiles, financial statements, annual and quarterly reports; you can even add a company to your "watchlist" for notification of new filings.