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INTERNET RESOURCES FOR CALIFORNIA BUSINESSES
The following are websites of interest to California businesses and attorneys who specialize in business and corporate law.
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Government Sites — Federal |
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Americans with Disabilities Act |
http://www.usdoj.gov/
crt/ada |
Information and technical assistance on the ADA by the U.
S. Department of Justice. |
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BusinessLaw.gov |
http://www.business.gov/ |
Home page, operated by the U. S. Small Business
Administration, with links to legal and regulatory information, and plain
English guides for starting a business, handling finances, managing
employees, and other topics. |
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CIA, The World Factbook |
http://www.cia.gov/cia/
publications/factbook/ |
US government profiles of countries and territories around
the world |
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Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) |
http://www.eeoc.gov/ |
EEOC site with basic introduction to employers’ rights and
responsibilities under the federal equal employment opportunity laws. |
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Federal agencies (through Library of Congress site) |
http://lcweb.loc.gov/
global/executive/fed.html |
A Library of Congress resource page with links to most
federal agencies. |
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Federal Citizen Information Center (FCIC) |
http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/ |
Part of the U.S. General Service Administration, the
FCIC’s Small Business Links offer information for persons planning or owning
small businesses, including information on procure-ment, taxes, woman and
minority-owned businesses, human resources, financial and legal issues. |
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Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) |
http://www.fdic.gov/ |
Home page with links to statistical data, pertinent
regulations, and FAQs. |
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Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco |
http://www.frbsf.org/ |
Home page. The current FRBSF discount rate, used to
determine the usury ceiling in California, is posted at http://www.frbsf.org/banking/
data/discount/index.html. |
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Federal Trade Commission |
http://www.ftc.gov/
ftc/business |
Home page for businesses, with links to business
publications, advertising guidance, fair packaging and labeling, antitrust
law guide, and other topics. Information concerning the Hart-Scott Rodino
pre-merger notification requirements is at: http://www.ftc.gov/bc/
hsr/introguides/intro
guides.htm |
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FirstGov.gov |
http://www.firstgov.gov/
Business/Business_
Gateway.shtml |
The official web portal of the U.S. government, with
links to information on contracting with the U.S. government, export
licenses, business financial assistance, and many other topics. |
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Internal Revenue Service |
http://www.irs.gov/ |
Home page; access to downloadable IRS forms and
publications. |
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Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) |
http://www.osha.gov/ |
Home page. |
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Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) |
http://www.dol.gov/esa/
ofccp/index.htm |
Home page with statutory, regulatory, and compliance information regarding nondiscrim-ination requirements for federal contractors. |
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Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) |
http://www.occ.treas.gov/ |
Home page with links to reports and other resources for banking industry professionals as well as public inform-ation about the national banking system. |
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Office of the U.S. Trade Representative |
http://www.ustr.gov/index.html |
Home page. |
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U.S. Department of State, Treaties in Force |
http://www.state.gov/
s/l/c8455.htm |
U.S. State Department list of treaties and other international agreements of the United States. |
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Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) |
http://www.sec.gov/ |
Home page with links to information for small businesses; online access to proposed and final rules, SEC releases, policy statements, and other commission notices and information; search-able database of all electronic company filings since 1994. |
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SEC Edgar |
http://www.sec.gov/
edgar.shtml |
SEC Edgar main page, with access to electronic filings and forms. |
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Small Business Administration |
http://www.sba.gov |
Home page with extensive links to federal and other resources for small businesses. |
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Social Security Administration |
http://www.ssa.gov/ |
Home page. SSA forms are available online at http://www.ssa.gov/
online/forms.html |
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U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services |
http://uscis.gov/graphics/index.htm |
Home page with links to immigration laws and forms. |
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U. S. Copyright Office |
http://www.loc.gov/copyright/ |
Home page with links to copyright registration and other information. |
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U.S. Department of Commerce |
http://www.commerce.gov |
Home page. |
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U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division |
http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/
public/guidelines/
guidelin.htm |
Link to Antitrust Division Guidelines and Policy Statements. |
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U.S. Department of Labor |
http://www.dol.gov/ |
Home page with links to statutory and regulatory information, labor statistics, small business regulatory compliance assistance, and other information. |
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U.S. Department of Labor, Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) |
http://www.oalj.dol.gov/libdot.htm |
Dictionary of job titles and standardized job descriptions; useful for job placement, occupational research, career guidance, labor-market information, curriculum development and long-range job planning. Last updated in 1991, the DOT has now been replaced by O*NET OnLine, http://online.onetcenter.org/. |
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U.S. Department of State |
http://www.state.gov/ |
Home page with links to international commercial laws and guides. |
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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency |
http://www.epa.gov/ |
Home page. |
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U.S. Government Printing Ofice |
http://www.gpo.gov/ |
Home page with links to products and services, including online searchable copies of the United States Code and the Code of Federal Regulations. |
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U.S. International Trade Commission |
http://www.usitc.gov/ |
Home page with rules, regulations, reports, and other information including an extensive list of links to international trade resources. |
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U. S. Patent and Trademark Office |
http://www.uspto.gov/ |
Home page with downloadable forms and information on patent applications and trademark registrations. |
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Government Sites — International |
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Private International Law Database: Trade/Business Transactions Law, U.S. Department of State |
http://www.state.gov/
www/global/legal_affairs/
transaction_law.html |
Access to treaties in force for the United States, other international instruments, and information on current negotiations and projects concerning private international law. Updated through January 1, 2001. For treaty actions since President Bush took office, see http://www.state.gov/
s/l/c3428.htm. |
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Electronic Embassy Website |
http://www.embassy.org/ |
Information on all foreign embassies in Washington, D.C. |
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Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) |
http://hcch.e-vision.nl/
index_en.php?act=text.display&tid=1 |
Home page. |
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North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Secretariat |
http://www.nafta-sec-alena
.org/DefaultSite/index_e.aspx |
Home page with link to text of NAFTA. |
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United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) |
http://www.uncitral.org/ |
Home page with links to UNICITRAL texts, including conventions, model laws, guides to enactment, legislative guides, legislative recommendations, and model contract rules. In particular, this website includes the text of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG). |
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CISG Database at Pace University School of Law, Pace Law Library, Institute of International Commercial Law |
http://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/ |
Site dedicated to U.N. Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG), with annotated text of CISG, CISG in different languages, cases organized by countries, and related CISG material. |
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International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT) |
http://www.unidroit.org/
english/home.htm |
Home page. |
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Canadian System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) |
http://www.sedar.com |
Home page of the Canadian equivalent to the SEC's EDGAR. Provides access to corporate filings of Canadian companies with Canada's securities regulatory authorities. |
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Government Sites — California: Secretary of State |
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California Secretary of State: California Business Portal |
http://www.ss.ca.gov/
business/business.htm |
Home page. |
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Forms |
http://www.ss.ca.gov/
business/bpd_forms.htm |
Directory of forms and samples for different business filings including UCC forms; some in fill-in format. |
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Business Filings: |
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Corporations |
http://www.ss.ca.gov/
business/corp/corporate.htm |
Corporations main page with links to filing tips to meet statutory minimum requirements, name availability, FAQs and more. |
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Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) |
http://www.ss.ca.gov/business/
llc/llc.htm |
LLC main page with links to forms and fees, name availability, FAQs and more. |
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Limited Partnerships |
http://www.ss.ca.gov/business/
lp/lp.htm |
Limited partnerships main page with links to forms and fees, name availability, FAQs and more. |
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General Partnerships |
http://www.ss.ca.gov/business/
gp/gp.htm |
General partnerships main page with links to forms and fees, name availability, FAQs and more. |
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Limited Liability Partnerships |
http://www.ss.ca.gov/business/
llp/llp.htm |
Limited liability partnership main page with links to forms and fees, name availability, FAQs and more. |
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Trademarks and Service Marks |
http://www.ss.ca.gov/business/
ts/ts.htm |
Trademarks and service marks main page with links to forms and fees, name availability, FAQs, private service companies and more. |
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Miscellaneous Filings |
http://www.ss.ca.gov/business/
other/bp_other.htm |
Links to filing requirements for unincorporated common interest development associations, unincorp-orated associations, unincorporated nonprofit associations, foreign lending institutions and foreign partnerships. |
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California Business Search |
http://kepler.ss.ca.gov/list.html |
Fill-in boxes to check records online for corporations, limited partnerships and limited liability companies. |
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Starting a Business |
http://www.ss.ca.gov/business/
resources.htm |
A step-by-step guide for starting a business in California; available in English or Spanish. |
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e-file Statement of Information |
https://businessfilings.ss.ca.gov/ |
Fill-in boxes to file a Statement of Information for a corporation online. |
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Notary Public |
http://www.ss.ca.gov/business/
notary/notary.htm |
Notary public main page, with links to topics such as obtaining a notary public commission, handbook, authentications, apostille or certification, forms and fees. |
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Uniform Commercial Code |
http://www.ss.ca.gov/business/
ucc/ucc.htm |
UCC main page with links to financing statement forms, amendment forms, requests for information, revised Article 9 (as of July 1, 2001) and FAQs. |
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UCC Connect |
https://uccconnect.ss.ca.gov/
acct/acct-login.asp |
California Secretary of State's online UCC service that enables users to perform transactions such as inquiries about financing statement filings, making financing statement filings, requesting copies of financing statements, placing bulk orders, and more-all online. |
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International Business Relations Program |
http://www.ss.ca.gov/business/
ibrp/ibrp.htm |
Main page in English or Spanish with international resources and business tips; intended to assist foreign corpor-ations with various filing procedures. |
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Business Program Division, New Law Summary |
http://www.ss.ca.gov/business/
bpd_newleg.htm |
Summaries and links to new state laws affecting businesses. |
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Government Sites — California: Other |
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California Department of Corporations, Securities Regulation Division |
http://www.corp.ca.gov/
srd/security.htm |
Access to forms, departmental publications, Commissioner's releases, opinions, and notices, franchising information, and other topics. |
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California Department of Fair Employment and Housing |
http://www.dfeh.ca.gov/ |
Home page. |
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California Department of Insurance, Workers' Compensation Information |
http://www.dir.ca.gov/
dwc/dwc_home_page.htm |
Access to information on workers' compensation insurance. |
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California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) |
http://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh |
Access to information concerning the CalOSHA program. |
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California Employment Development Department (EDD) |
http://www.edd.ca.gov |
Home page; information concerning job placement and referrals, unemployment insurance, disability insurance, employment and training, labor market information, payroll taxes, and other topics. |
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California Franchise Tax Board (FTB) |
http://www.ftb.ca.gov/ |
Home page, links to downloadable state tax forms and publications. |
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California Legislative Counsel |
http://www.legislative
counsel.ca.gov/ |
Full text of bills, resolutions, and constitutional amendments, as well as their status, history, votes, analyses, and veto messages. |
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California Legislative Information |
http://calbar.ca.gov/
state/calbar/calbar_generic
.jsp?cid=10137&id=10452 |
Web page maintained by the State Bar of California with many helpful links regarding California's legislative process, pending bills, legislative calendar, committees, and other topics. |
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California Business Legislation Resource |
http://www.calbar.ca.gov/
state/calbar/calbar_sections
_generic.jsp?sCategoryPath
=/Home/Attorney%20Resources/
Sections/Business%20Law |
Click on "Legislation" in left-hand menu. Provides links to recent business law legislative developments, from the State Bar of California, Business Law Section. |
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California Permit Handbook; License Handbook |
http://commerce.ca.gov/state/
ttca/ttca_business_display.jsp |
Links to California Commerce and Economic Development Program handbooks on permits and licenses. |
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California state agencies |
http://my.ca.gov/state/
portal/myca_homepage.jsp |
At main State of California website, scroll down and click on “State Agency Index” on the right hand sidebar under “Quick Hits.” The index lists all California agencies, departments, and commissions in alphabetical order, with links to each.
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California State Association of Counties |
http://www.csac.counties.org |
Home page with links to all California counties except Tuolumne County (for Tuolumne County, see its Chamber of Commerce site at http://www.tcchamber.com/) |
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California State Board of Equalization |
http://www.boe.ca.gov/ |
Home page with access to information about sales and use taxes, sellers' permits, forms, and publications. |
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California Commerce & Economic Development Program (formerly, California Technology, Trade and Commerce Agency) |
http://commerce.ca.gov/state/
ttca/ttca_homepage.jsp |
Home page. |
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Private Agency Sites |
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ABA Section of Business Law |
http://www.abanet.org/
buslaw/home.html |
Home page with links to publications and other resources for business lawyers. |
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Active Capital |
http://activecapital.org/ |
Site dedicated to helping individual accredited investors, SBICs, and institutional venture capitalists find small, growing companies through a secure Internet database, and providing ongoing training and research for entrepreneurs and small investors. |
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AllBusiness |
http://www.allbusiness.com |
Small business portal, with links to forms, directories, and resources on many topics. |
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American Arbitration Association |
http://www.adr.org/ |
Home page with links to rules and procedures. |
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Annual Reports.com |
http://www.annualreports.com/ |
Free service offering links to annual reports of public companies. |
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BenefitsLink |
http://www.benefitslink.com |
Compliance information and tools for employee benefit plan sponsors, service-providers and participants. |
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Better Business Bureau |
http://www.bbb.org/ |
Home page. |
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The Biz-Tech Network by Brint Institute, LLC |
http://www.brint.com/ |
Portal with a meta-index of business, management, and information technology topics; it also provides search capabilities and full text articles on related issues. |
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Business.com |
http://www.business.com/ |
Business search engine and directory intended to help users find companies, products, services, and other business-related information; some features are fee-based. |
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Business Law Section of the State Bar of California |
http://www.calbar.ca.gov/
state/calbar/calbar_sections_
generic.jsp?sCategoryPath=/
Home/Attorney%20Resources/
Sections/Business%20Law |
Home page with links to standing committees, programs and publications. |
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Business 2.0 Web Guide |
http://www.business2.com/
b2/webguide |
Directory of business links on the web. |
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Business Week Online |
http://www.businessweek.com/ |
Articles, links and opportunity to subscribe to free newsletter. |
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CNN Money |
http://money.cnn.com/ |
General business news offered by CNN and Money magazine. |
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Corporate Finance Sourcebook |
http://www.financesource
book.com/ |
Link for ordering popular guidebook published by National Register Publishing, which features over 1500 top investment sources and 1700 service firms for business entrepreneurs. |
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CorporateInformation |
http://www.corporate
information.com/ |
Research reports on public, private, domestic, and foreign corporations. |
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The Corporate Library |
http://www.thecorporatelibrary.com/ |
The Corporate Library is an independent research firm providing corporate governance data, analysis, and risk assessment tools. |
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DeVry University Business Administration Portal |
http://www.academicinfo.net/
busmeta.html |
Portal with annotated links to a variety of business-related topics. |
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Dun & Bradstreet |
http://www.dnb.com/ |
Home page of Dun & Bradstreet. Subscribers can request reports and run online queries in proprietary databases. |
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Edgar Online, Inc. |
http://www.edgar-online.com/ |
Edgar Online, Inc. is a private company, not affiliated with the SEC, specializing in the extraction, packaging and distribution of public company information contained in SEC filings. |
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Enterpreneur.com |
http://www.entrepreneur.com/
mag |
Free access to Entrepreneur magazine articles back to 1997. |
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Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) |
http://www.fasb.org/ |
Access to FASB Statements of Financial Accounting Standards and other resources. |
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Findlaw Business Center |
http://biz.findlaw.com/ |
Portal with links to articles and guides on starting a business, taxes and accounting, small business legal concerns, and more. Part of West Group. |
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FindNews.org |
http://www.findnews.org/
business-news/small-
business.html |
Online news directory with links to other news-oriented sites and small business portals. |
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Garage Technology Ventures |
http://www.garage.com/ |
Venture capital fund for emerging technology companies. |
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Google Small Business Directory |
http://directory.google.com/Top/
Business/Small_Business/ |
A directory of small business resources. |
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Hieros Gamos Small Business Center |
http://www.hg.org/sbcenter.html |
Portal with links to topics such as starting a business, choosing a legal structure, and financing. |
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Hoover's Online |
http://www.hoovers.com/ |
Subscription-based site with industry snapshots, company profiles, earnings and other information. |
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JAMS |
http://www.jamsadr.com/index.asp |
Home page with information about JAMS mediation and arbitration services and a search engine to assist in locating qualified mediators and arbitrators. The website also offers a downloadable guide to dispute resolution clauses in commercial contracts. |
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MarketResearch.com |
http://www.marketresearch.com/ |
Free database of market research reports representing all market and industry sectors. |
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MegaLaw.com Small Business Portal |
http://www.megalaw.com/top/
smbusiness.php |
Portal with links to federal agencies and other websites related to small businesses. |
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NASDAQ and American Stock Exchanges (mirrored site) |
http://www.nasdaq.com/
and
http://www.amex.com/ |
Comprehensive current information on market performance and investments. |
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National Association of Secretaries of State, Business Registration and Filing Services |
http://www.nass.org/
busreg/busreg.html |
Access to most state business and corporations divisions from a single webpage. |
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National Association of Seed and Venture Funds |
http://www.nasvf.org/ |
Network of private, public, and non-profit organizations investing and facilitating investment in entrepreneurs. |
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National Business Association |
http://www.nationalbusiness.org/ |
Nonprofit association's site for the self-employed and small business community. |
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National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) |
http://www.nvca.org/ |
Home page with links to members and other resources. |
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New York Stock Exchange |
http://www.nyse.com/ |
SComprehensive, current information on market performance and investments. |
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News Cuts |
http://www.newscuts.com/
Small.Business.shtml |
Free and fee-based small business news service. |
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Open Directory Project - Small Business |
http://www.dmoz.org/Business/
Small_Business/ |
Free site with links to topics such as business plan, finance, home office, and start-up, edited by volunteers. |
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Public Register's Annual Report Service |
http://www.annualreport
service.com/ |
Free access to annual reports of over 2200 companies. Site also has links to the SEC's Edgar database for filings. |
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Reuters |
http://today.reuters.com/
news/default.aspx |
Database providing research reports on companies and industries.Database providing research reports on companies and industries. |
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SEC News Digest Reports |
http://www.alppublishing.com/
sec/index.html |
Jefren Publishing Co., Inc. site with SEC's daily News Digest Reports organized by subject category. Reports are downloadable and searchable. |
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The Small Business Portal |
http://www.thesmallbusiness
portal.com/ |
Links to topics such as starting a business, franchise advice, financing, and home-based businesses. |
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Standard & Poor's |
http://www.standardandpoors.com |
Home page, with search engine for public company credit ratings and other features. |
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Tripod by Terra Lycos |
http://www.tripod.lycos.com/
smallbiz/index.html |
Portal with tips on starting an online business, yellow pages, some free and some fee-based services. |
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U.S. GAAP Website |
http://cpaclass.com/gaap |
Comprehensive source of information on generally accepted accounting principles in the U.S. |
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Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition |
http://online.wsj.com |
General business and financial news |
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Washburn University School of Law Small Business Portal |
http://www.washlaw.edu/
subject/small.business.html |
Portal with links to a forms library, business and economic data. |
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Yahoo! Finance |
http://biz.yahoo.com/i/ |
Free company profiles and stock charts for over 9000 public companies. |
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Yahoo! Small Business |
http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/ |
Portal with links to topics such as creating a website, promoting a business, and selling online. |
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10k Wizard |
http://www.10kwizard.com |
Private, subscription-based service offering advanced online search and retrieval of SEC filings, including the ability to perform keyword searches. |
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