Purdue Polytechnic Industry Projects

This concept map explains the relationship of different types of corporate information. The small "paper" icons have resources where you can click to find out more. Most are freely available resources that you will be able to access at PPHS.  Some link back behind the Purdue West Lafayette fire wall. If you get the firewall, but have a specific request for a type of information about a specific company, send an email to library [at] pphs.purdue.edu, and Megan will try to find that information locally to you, either through Indianapolis Public, IUPUI, or Notre Dame libraries, or through interlibrary loan. Click and explore to learn about the variety of company information! 

To find information about your specific project partner, you will have to identify the following information: 

• Is it a public or a private entity?
• It is a for-profit corporation or a not-for-profit entity?

The answers to these questions will determine whether your project partner must disclose financial filings, how frequently, and to whom. 

Public corporations are those that must disclose financials to the federal government, because they sell shares on public stock exchanges. 

Private corporations do not sell shares publicly and therefore are not required to make their financials public. 

Not-for-profit organizations do not keep a profit and therefore are tax exempt, whereas a for-profit corporation does exist to make a profit, and therefore is subject to taxation. 

These differences in incorporation make a difference in the types of information that is collected about and made public about these organizations.