Q. What is WRDS?

WRDS stands for Wharton Research Data System. It is a subscription financial data repository, aggregated by the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. WRDS is managed by the Illinois College of Business and its primary audience is business school faculty and doctoral students of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I). 

It is available for on campus affiliates through Business Information Services. It is for scholarly use only and not for commercial research. It is not accessible to the general public, UIC or UIS affiliates, or alumni.

To inquire further please contact: bis@library.illinois.edu

For doctoral students and faculty in the College of Business and across campus, contact Matias Carrasco Kind in the Data Science Research Services. He takes all information and sets up accounts for WRDS. 

Prominent Datasets archived in WRDS:

• S & P Computstat (US)--balance sheets, income statement, cash flow back to 1962
  • Global Computstat
  • ExecuComp (Executive Compensation) back to 2006
• CRSP (Center for Research Securities and Prices -pronounced "crisp") -Daily US prices going back to the 1950's.  
• MSCI/KLD social responsibility metrics (slim version) 
• SEC Analytics - parsing SEC 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K filings for text