The IoD offers various information resources to members which are available via the Business Information Service.
Please note that most of the information is available free of charge, though in some cases, such as market reports, there may be a cost involved.
Electronic resources
Please note that resources marked with an asterisk (*) are available for member use during Business Library opening hours.
Company information
- FAME*: detailed company financials with up to 10 years’ history, where available, for incorporated companies in UK and Republic of Ireland
- Orbis: global company database with detailed information on listed companies
- Zephyr: this tracks mergers and acquisitions and IPOs
- Kompass*: resource for identifying manufacturers and suppliers of products in over 60 countries
- Graydon: UK and international company credit reports. IoD members can receive two free credit reports on their own (UK) company, per calendar year, via the Business Information Service
Business news and journal articles
- EBSCO Business Source Corporate Plus*: contains full text articles from leading business journals and trade publications and includes industry reports and company profiles
- Nexis: provides information from over 36,000 international news and business sources
Market research reports
- IBISWorld*: industry research reports for the UK market
- Passport*: market research database supplied by Euromonitor International, our subscription to this resource provides us with information on the following countries: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, UK, USA
- Marketresearch.com Profound: provides access to an extensive collection of global market research reports – these are chargeable, though many are available for purchase by sections
Marketing customer database
Do you want to target new customers using direct marketing? The IoD has partnered with MarketingFile.com to enable you to purchase direct marketing lists online and download them straight to your desktop.
Model documents and templates
- Practical Law: has a wide range of business model documents including directors’ service agreements, employment contracts and templates for various commercial contracts. We can also send you guidance notes to help you tailor those model documents to your own needs
Printed resources
- Directories: UK trade directories covering a range of sectors such as publishing, health, legal, utilities, retail, third sector and insurance
- Reference books: on all aspects of running a business, ranging from company and employment law, taxation, finance, personnel management and marketing. New additions to the collection
- Dictionaries, almanacs and biographical directories
- Salary surveys and pay information: including those from Croner and MM&K
- Journals: business and academic journals such as Director, Economic Outlook, Economist, Business Moneyfacts, Estates Gazette, Forbes, Fortune, People Management and Management Today
- Newspapers: daily and weekend broadsheets
- Corporate governance collection: covering areas such as executive and non-executive director’s duties and responsibilities and best practice for the board and board committees
- International information: books on issues such as business etiquette, culture and employment