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Appendix B. Government Web Resources for Businesses

In This Appendix

• Bureau of Economic Analysis

• Bureau of Labor Statistics

• Census Bureau

• EDGAR

• Federal Reserve

• Government Printing Office's Access Database

• Internal Revenue Service

Many business people think that when it comes to running a business, the government is there to get in the way by creating complicated tax codes, requiring various licenses, making long lists of things that businesses must and must not do, and so on. Well, okay, this is all true. However, ironically enough, the government also has a bunch of Web sites that can be an enormous help to people who run a business. Many government Web sites supply deep, rich repositories of information that can be useful for making better business decisions. This appendix, therefore, discusses and describes some of the most useful government Web resources, including the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Census Bureau, EDGAR (the Web site for the Security and Exchange Commission), the Web site for the Federal Reserve, the access database of the Government Printing Office, and the Web site for the Internal Revenue Service.

Bureau of Economic Analysis

As noted at the BEA Web site (www.bea.gov), the mission of the BEA is "to produce and disseminate accurate, timely, relevant, and cost-effective economic account statistics that provide government, businesses, households, and individuals with a comprehensive up-to-date picture of economic activity and hamburger ...