From hungary-online-owner Mon Mar 4 09:52:31 1996 Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) (fnord) by nando.yak.net (8.6.5/8.6.5) id JAA02762 for hungary-online-announce-out31415; Mon, 4 Mar 1996 09:52:31 -0800 Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) (fnord) by nando.yak.net (8.6.5/8.6.5) id JAA02753; Mon, 4 Mar 1996 09:52:20 -0800 Received: from steve@isys.hu () via =-=-=-=-=-= for hungary-online-announce@hungary.yak.net (2751) Received: from kingzog.isys.hu (KingZog.iSYS.hu [194.24.160.4]) (fnord) by nando (8.6.5/8.6.5) with ESMTP id JAA02725 for ; Mon, 4 Mar 1996 09:51:30 -0800 Received: from [194.24.160.22] (bubba.iSYS.hu [194.24.160.22]) by kingzog.isys.hu (8.7.Beta.11/8.7.Beta.11) with SMTP id SAA25656 for ; Mon, 4 Mar 1996 18:51:02 +0100 (MET) X-Sender: steve@mail.isys.hu Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Mon, 4 Mar 1996 18:57:46 +0100 To: hungary-online-announce@hungary.yak.net From: steve@isys.hu (Steven Carlson) Subject: (HOL-A) HOL> US gov't offers free business info Sender: owner-Hungary-Online-announce@hungary.yak.net Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Hungary-Online@hungary.yak.net ----------------------------- HUNGARY ONLINE a bimonthly column of links and reviews, as well as occasional commentary from Steven Carlson ----------------------------- The US Government Offers Free Business Information Whether you Whether you like Bill Clinton or not, the current administration has been uploading the US government to the net at a monumental pace. Much of this is business information. Whether you're looking for a US partner, or thinking about starting a US-based business, or simply trying to get your taxes done, the Internet now offers a wealth of good data. ** FedWorld Your first stop should be the US Federal Government's main information server, FedWorld. This site is a comprehensive index of all US government sites. What can you find here? For starters, you can download this year's tax forms; or you can jump off to the Internal Revenue Service's own pages to review the tax laws. You can even learn how to file your taxes electronically. My colleague looked around and discovered he may be able to deduct the expense of moving to Hungary from his taxes. Other gems you'll find here are government studies on business and industry, current regulations, economic trends and studies, and information on trades and tariffs. The Government Printing Office lets you search the Congressional Record, Federal Register, congressional bills and a number of government documents. You can also order free catalogs of government documents not available online. One particularly useful area is "Business, Commerce and Economics" . Among the links you'll find here are the US Census Bureau, as well as the Consumer Information Center, listing over 200 publications. You can also view the entire text of the North American Free Trade Agreement (provided you have the time.) ** US Business Advisor This new service, unveiled early this month by Vice President Gore, supplies "one-stop access to federal agencies that regulate and assist business". It's billed as the first in a family of electronic products aimed at "customer groups" such as veterans, travelers, the research community, and state and local governments. Rather than simply listing links, this site addresses specific needs with a section of "commonly asked questions" about various branches of government as well as "how to" guides to topics like getting a passport renewed, or finding a federal job. You'll find a lot of the same information available elsewhere, but you may find it faster. My only criticism of this site is that it's still rather sparse. But since it's new, we can probably expect it to grow over time. ** US Small Business Administration Considering starting your own business in the States? The SBA has been around since 1953, offering free advice to would be entreprenuers and small business owners. This site offers information on how to start a business, how to finance a business, and how to expand it. You'll find workshops on Franchising and Marketing, and well as contacts like the Service Corp of Retired Executives (SCORE), which provide training and one-on-one counseling at no charge. One feature I especially appreciated was the extensive shareware archive of business-oriented software. ** US Securities and Exchange Commission The SEC offers financial and other information about securities being offered for public sale. At present, three-quarters of all publicly trading companies are filing electronically with the Commission's EDGAR system. By May this year all companies will be required to file these documents electronically. The EDGAR database began as a pilot project funded by the National Science Foundation. When funding ended in Octover 1995, the SEC decided to continue offering this information to the public for free. By all account EDGAR has been an outstanding success. ** STAT-USA The Commerce Department's STAT-USA service gathers business and economic information from over 50 Federal agencies. The site has the look and feel of a commercial service, and indeed it is. A quarterly subscription costs $50, and a year's access is $150. This money gets you access to five main services. The National Trade Data Bank (NTDB) contains export and trade related information, including export opportunities by industry, country and product. The National Economic, Social, and Environmental Data Bank (NESE-DB) covers socioeconomic data and trends. The Economic Bulletin Board -- the source offers economic and general business press releases, statistical series, and economic information files. The Global Business Opportunities Service bills itself as an international procurement marketplace for U.S. businesses. Finally, Bureau of Economic Analysis provides access to BEA's news releases, to Survey of Current Business issues, and to detailed data files from BEA's national, regional, and international economic accounts. ** N.A.A.F.E.T.E.E  The North American Association For Exports To Eastern Europe is a non-profit organization formed in late 1992 to help companies from Canadia, the US, and other countries find partners in Eastern Europe. The group lists East European firms (mostly only Czech, Slovak, Polish and Hungarian firms) interested in doing business with Western companies. Those who join the Association pay an annual membership fee and receive lists of Eastern European companies wanting to do business. The Association also runs an Internet list, the EEUROPE-BUSINESS-DIGEST, where companies can trade leads. This is the only site I've mentioned that isn't run by the US government.like Bill Clinton or not, the current administration has been uploading the US government to the net at a monumental pace. Much of this is business information. Whether you're looking for a US partner, or thinking about starting a US-based business, or simply trying to get your taxes done, the Internet now offers a wealth of good data. This column also appears in the Budapest Business Journal -------------------------------------------------- Copyright (c) iSYS Hungary 1996. Permission granted to redistribute this article in electronic form for non-profit purposes only. My byline and this message must remain intact. Contact me for reprint rights. -------------------------------------------------- Steven Carlson, iSYS Hungary Hungary's business Internet provider Online Europe list Author - Hungary Online "Only the educated are free." - Epictetus, Discourses ############# # This message to Hungary-Online-announce@hungary.yak.net # was from steve@isys.hu (Steven Carlson) # # To unsubscribe, # send "unsubscribe" to # For a full subscription (rather than this announcement-only subscription) # mail "subscribe" to # Send mail to for more information, # or to if you need human assistance. #############