Many business sources contain tables, charts, data sets, and other non-standard types of information. General guidelines:
Because the APA style manual does not provide examples for every single type of resource, these examples have been adapted for common business resources. If you are unsure of how to cite a source, ask your business librarian.
Jump to more specific examples by using the table below:
Parenthetical Citation: McDonald's and Burger King in Brazil were among the first companies to use AI in an advertising campaign (Rittenhouse, 2023).
Narrative Citation: According to Rittenhouse (2023), McDonald's and Burger King in Brazil were among the first companies to use AI in an advertising campaign.
Parenthetical Citation: In 2022, Amazon spent 20.6 billion dollars on advertising and promotion (Ad Age Datacenter, 2023).
Narrative Citation: According to Ad Age Datacenter (2023), Amazon spent 20.6 billion dollars on advertising and promotion.
Marketline is the author of most of the SWOTs in our subscription. For SWOTs that may come from other databases, most often you are looking for a corporate/organization author.
Parenthetical Citation: Cisco's declining cash reserves in the last couple of years may be an indication of the company's inability to acquire sufficient capital (MarketLine, 2023).
Narrative Citation: According to a MarketLine (2023) report, Cisco's declining cash reserves may be an indicator of the company's inability to acquire sufficient capital.
Parenthetical Citation: In the United States the number of real estate firms increased by over 12,000 between 2020 and 2021 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2021).
Narrative Citation: According to the U.S. Census Bureau (2021), the number of real estate firms in the United States increased by over 12,000 between 2020 and 2021.
Parenthetical Citation: There are 301 establishments in Milwaukee county which exclusively sell alcohol (U.S. Census Bureau, n.d.).
Narrative Citation: According to the U.S. Census Bureau (n.d.), there are 301 establishments in Milwaukee county which exclusively sell alcohol.
Parenthetical Citation: The median gross rent in Whitewater, WI is only 1% more than in Stevens Point, WI (U.S. Census Bureau, n.d.).
Narrative Citation: According to the U.S. Census Bureau (n.d.) the median gross rent in Whitewater, WI is only 1% more than the median gross rent in Stevens Point, WI.
Some Global Road Warrior report pages have a Writer listed at the bottom of the page. If none listed, use Global Road Warrior as an Author, and no need to repeat it in the Source position.
Parenthetical Citation: The varying tropical climate of the Democratic Republic of Congo dictates the type of attire worn by business travelers to the country (Myers, n.d.).
Narrative Citation: Myers (n.d.) explains that the varying tropical climate of the Democratic Republic of Congo dictates the type of attire worn by business travelers to the country.
However, some subsections may be reprints from other sources -- e.g., the Human Rights Reports section is reprinted from the U.S. Department of State report:
Parenthetical Citation: Unlike the United States, the government of Australia prohibits sympathy strikes by unions (Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor & World Trade Press, 2022).
Narrative Citation: According to the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor and the World Trade Press (2022), the government of Australia prohibits sympathy strikes by unions.
Parenthetical Citation: FUBU is a privately owned corporation which specializes in producing hip-hop influenced sportswear (D&B Hoovers, 2023).
Narrative Citation: According to D&B Hoovers (2023), FUBU is a privately owned corporation which specializes in producing hip-hop influenced sportswear.
Parenthetical Citation: Millennials are more willing to spend on premium care for their pets since they view them as a part of their family (Brocker, 2023)
Narrative Citation: Brocker (2023) states that Millennials are more willing to spend on premium care for their pets since they view them as a part of their family.
Parenthetical Citation: Increase in federal funding for medicare and medicaid has lowered industry risk for dentists in the United States (IBISWorld, 2023).
Narrative Citation: According to IBISWorld (2023) an increase in federal funding for medicare and medicaid has lowered industry risk for dentists in the United States.
Parenthetical Citation: Leadership and employee involvement are important to the management of occupational health and safety risks (International Organization for Standardization [ISO], 2023).
Narrative Citation: The International Organization for Standardization (ISO, 2023) stresses the importance of leadership and employee involvement in the management of occupational health and safety risks.
Parenthetical Citation: The minimum required distance between two containers holding flammable liquids such as petroleum is three feet (Occupational Safety and Health Administration [OSHA], 1970).
Narrative Citation: According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA, 2023) the minimum required distance between two containers holding flammable liquids such as petroleum is three feet.
Note: If the abbreviation of a group author is well-know, or will appear in the paper at least times, include the abbreviation in square brackets in the parenthetical citation, and with the date element in the narrative citation.
Include retrieval dates since profiles are regularly updated. Look in the Business Demographics section of a company profile for the Last Updated On: date.
If the company's name is sufficiently unique to identify that company (i.e., there is only one of that company in that city/state), then that is all you need for the Title. If there are multiple companies with that name and that location, then include the exact address in parentheses as a unique identifier, as below.
Parenthetical Citation: The two main competitors of the Sage and Oats Trading Post are located in neighboring Idaho (Data Axel, 2023).
Narrative Citation: According to Data Axel (2023), the two main competitors of the Sage and Oats Trading Post are located in neighboring Idaho.
For creating a list of companies or people with certain criteria, the Excel or PDF format list has no real title. So create a description, in [square brackets], of what criteria you applied to get your list, so that someone else could retrieve the same (or similar) data. Include retrieval date because the list would probably be different at a later date.
Parenthetical Citation: 22 businesses located in the Janesville metro area are owned by veterans (Data Axel, n.d.).
Narrative Citation: According to Data Axel (n.d.) 22 businesses located in the Janesville metro area are owned by veterans.
Parenthetical Citation: Approximately 10,00 flights were cancelled in one day in the United States on March 29th, 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 lock-down measures (Bureau of Transportation Statistics [BTS], 2023).
Narrative Citation: According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS, 2023) approximately 10,000 flights were cancelled in one day in the United States on March 29th, 2020 as a result of COVID-19 lock-down measures.
All SEC filings are publicly available on the web. So, no matter where you accessed it from, there's really no need to include database information, though you can include a freely-accessible web link to make it easier for your reader to retrieve it if you wish.
Parenthetical Citation: The risk of credit losses from corporate debt securities held by East West Bank are likely to be low since their credit profiles are strong with expectations of on-time contractual payments (East West Bancorp, Inc., 2021)
Narrative Citation: East West Bancorp, Inc. (2021) state in their annual report that risk of credit losses on their corporate debt securities are likely to be low since their credit profiles are strong with expectations of on-time contractual payments.
The Title is the dataset used, which also provides you with a Date. However, that doesn't tell your reader what exact data you were using. So create a description after the title, in [square brackets], of what criteria you applied to get your list, so that someone else could retrieve the same (or similar) data.
Parenthetical Citation: There are approximately 7 million customers in the United States who use hand and body creams, lotions or oils (MRI-Simmons, 2021).
Narrative Citation: According to MRI-Simmons (2021) there are approximately 7 million customers in the United States who use hand and body creams, lotions, or oils.
Parenthetical Citation: 52% of college students in the United States accessed Instagram through a mobile device in 2021 (MRI-Simmons, 2021).
Narrative Citation: According to MRI-Simmons (2021) 52% of college students in the United States accessed Instagram through a mobile devise in 2021.
For the profiles of any type of Publication, Radio, TV/Cable, Out-of-home, or Hispanic media with a profile in SRDS, include retrieval date as these are updated regularly.
Parenthetical Citation: The Beloit Daily News boasts a circulation of over 10,000 subscribers (SRDS Media Solutions, n.d.).
Narrative Citation: According to SRDS Media Solutions (n.d.) the Beloit Daily News boasts a circulation of over 10,000 subscribers.
Parenthetical Citation: Media outlets in Sheboygan WI may charge higher advertising rates since they fall under Milwaukee's designated market area (DMA) (SRDS Media Solutions, n.d.).
Narrative Citation: According to SRDS Media Solutions (n.d.) media outlets in Sheboygan, WI may charge higher advertising rates since they fall under Milwaukee's designated market area (DMA).
Look in the “Source” box to the right of Statista's charts for most of the citation information. Sometimes there are multiple sources for one chart; if so, treat it just like you would a normal multiple-author situation on an article. For date, check the Release Info or Source Link boxes (see right); but if not listed, use (n.d.) for No Date.
Parenthetical Citation: 48% of global cybersecurity professionals think that deep learning for detecting malware in encrypted traffic may be the most promising emerging machine learning trend in 2023 (Nguyen, 2023).
Narrative Citation: According to Nguyen (2023), 48% of global cybersecurity professional thin that deep learning for detecting malware in encrypted traffic may be the most promising emerging machine learning trend in 2023.
Parenthetical Citation: Crude oil prices hit an all time high at over $109 per barrel in 2012 (Statista, 2024).
Narrative Citation: According to Statista (2024), crude oil prices hit an all time high at over $109 per barrel in 2012.
Value Line content (e.g. stock prices, some ratings) is updated almost daily, but if they have a PDF of your company, then it is archived so no need to include the retrieval date here. Look for the PDFs if available for your company in the top right or bottom left corner of the HTML webpage.
If there is no PDF, then it is unarchived, so use (n.d.) and include a retrieval date.
Parenthetical Citation: Johnson Controls’ international growth in 2023 has helped to offset its weak performance in North America (Value Line, 2024).
Narrative Citation: According to Value Line (2024) Johnson Controls’ international grown in 2023 has helped to offset its weak performance in North America.
Parenthetical Citation: The Nicoya region in Costa Rica is prone to frequent earthquakes (Dixon & Protti, 2007-2023).
Narrative Citation: The data gathered by Dixon & Protti (2007-2023) shows that the Nicoya region in Costa Rica is prone to frequent earthquakes.
Parenthetical Citation: There were no reported bank failures reported in 2021 and 2022 (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation [FDIC], 2023).
Narrative Citation: According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC, 2023) there were reported bank failures in 2021 and 2022.
With datasets acquired through WRDS such as Compustat or CRSP, the author can mention that the data was collected from these sources in the methodology section or at the end of the paper.
For example:
“4.1 Data and methods
We retrieve the sample of banks from COMPUSTAT's bank file. Following Akhigbe and Martin (2006), we include in the sample all commercial banks (SIC code 602X) and savings institutions (SIC code 603X). To be included in the sample the bank must have continuous returns on CRSP in the 365 day period prior to the analyst's recommendation. For each sample bank, we obtain all of their analyst recommendations that are reported on the Thomson Financial's Institutional Brokers Estimate (I/B/E/S) U.S. Detail File in the time period 1994–2012" (Premti et al, 2017).
Reference
Premti, A., Garcia-Feijoo, L., & Madura, J. (2017). Information content of analyst recommendations in the banking industry. International Review of Financial Analysis 49, 35-47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.irfa.2016.11.005
Parenthetical Citation: Equalpride’s media spending in 2022 was down by 77% since the previous year (Winmo, n.d.).
Narrative Citation: According to Winmo (n.d.), Equalpride’s media spending in 2022 was down by 77% since the previous year.