Accounting and Finance

Introduction

• This page will help you to get started in looking for information on your topic. It covers the basics in a systematic way:  locating books, locating journals, locating journal articles, locating theses, research being done, electronic resources including websites and working papers, conference papers, newspapers and government publications.
• There is also a  selection of useful student resources for Accounting and Finance including some basic information skills online tutorials.  Further information on information skills training is available here.

Locating Books

• The place to start is the Library Catalogue.  To help you, why not try the Library Catalogue tutorial
• The Catalogue includes printed and electronic books held by the Library
• Searches can be done by searching everything, author, title, journal title, subject, classmark, series and Boolean. 
• The default search is "Quick search" which ranks according to relevance in favour of author and title
• If you are searching via keywords it is better to use the "Advanced search" option
• You can also limit by material type
• Each item has a map available showing the location of the material
• All books have a classmark, made up of letters, then numbers and finally a filing suffix                 
• The main broad subjects for Accounting and Finance and their classmarks are:

• The majority of Accounting and Finance material is located on the 2nd floor. Other classmarks can be found using the Library floorplan 

Reading lists

• There is a separate Course Collection for essential and background readings on reading lists that is only accessible by LSE staff and students in term time.  Some background readings may be located as Recommended Texts in the Main Collection. 
• You can short-cut the searching for reading list books by clicking on the 'Reading lists'  link on the Library Catalogue

Books not held at LSE

• You can look for books in other libraries using a number of the different catalogues listed here
  
• Use the Inter-Library Lending system for books that you cannot easily get to yourself by clicking on the "Requests and inter-lending" button on the Library Catalogue and select the "Request a book from another library" option
  

Locating journals

• To find printed and electronic versions of a particular journal title, choose "Find Results In: Journal Title Browse" on the Library Catalogue "Quick Search" screen. If the Library subscribes to both formats, there will be one entry for the printed version and one for the e-version
• The printed version will have a classmark on the catalogue record.  Click on the floor symbol where it says "Map" to view its location in the Main Collection
• To access the e-version, click on the "Click here for full text" link in the catalogue record for the title that has "Electronic resource" as its sub-title. Alternatively, go to the Journals page via the Electronic Resources link on the Library home page for full-text electronic journals. You can search alphabetically, by title, by subject or by ISSN.  These can be accessed via your LSE username and password
• Key titles in printed or electronic format (click on the title to access) are:

Journals not held at LSE

• If LSE does not have the printed or electronic version of a journal then you can check to see if other libraries have it using a number of different catalogues as listed here
• Use the Inter-Library Lending system for journal articles that you cannot easily get to yourself by clicking on the "Requests and inter-lending" button on the Library Catalogue and select the "Request a journal from another library" option

Locating journal articles

Locating journal articles can be done either through the website of a resource or by using a search across multiple resources. Do not assume a simple Google search will find all articles - the Library provides powerful searches which include Google Scholar and more.

• The Library provides a searching service for LSE staff and students called Cross Searcher that searches the content of a number of selected databases and resources. This can be used to find journal articles, and where available, links through to the full text, using the LSE article finder orange button:
• Article databases, including those in Cross Searcher and many more, are also listed on the Library Catalogue.
• Click here to see databases relevant to Accounting and Finance.
• On the Ejournals page you can search for individual ejournals by title or ISSN. You can also browse ejournal titles by subject or choose from a list of major ejournal databases. LSE Staff and students will need to use their LSE username and password to access these.

Locating quick reference works

The Reference Collection on the First floor contains dictionaries, directories, encyclopaedias etc.  For Accounting and Finance, look for classmarks beginning HF and HG.

Electronic Resources for Accounting and Finance

The Electronic Resources page contains information on all of the electronic resources the Library has access to. 

All subscription and important resources are listed on the Library Catalogue and some are searchable via Cross Searcher. 

Cross Searcher will allow you to look for books and journal articles across more than one resource at the same time and therefore save you time.

For those interested in financial data from companies such as Bloomberg, Thomson, Bureau van Dyke etc, you can see our listing of financial datasets here. We also subscribe to a number of datasets via the Wharton Research Data Service but visitors should note that all the resources listed in the previous link are only available to current LSE staff and students.

There are also many web resources that can be accessed using the Library's Delicious account or using the Delicious tag cloud on the Free Resources on the Web page. You can see some examples further down the page.

Electronic books

The Library has a growing number of electronic book suppliers as shown on the list here. They are accessible to LSE staff and students by using their network username and password.  Our main electronic book supplier for Accounting and Finance is:

• Oxford Scholarship Online.

Theses

Theses are a valuable resource in terms of research.  The Library only holds LSE PhD and MPhil thesis.  These can be located via the Library Catalogue using the follow method:

•  Turn the "Quick limit" box to read "Theses"
• Enter either the title in "Title browse" if you have it or the name of the department in the "Quick Search"

There are several databases that contain details of UK and international doctoral thesis completed or in progress.

Working Papers

Theses are one way of accessing research currently being undertaken.  Working papers are another important source.  The list below contains a selection of working paper sites for Accounting and Finance

Institutional Repositories

Institutional repositories are becoming increasingly important as a source of information regarding research being undertaken by academics and students in universities worldwide.  LSE Research Online is the LSE repository, including full text where available.

Conference papers

• ZETOC - Index to conference papers 1992- . No full-text, simply tells you where to find the paper concerned eg: in a book or journal
  
• ISI Proceedings on Web of Knowledge - science and technology, 1990-

Internet sites

The internet is a valuable research tool.  The sites mentioned below are pre-selected, high-quality web links.  It is possible to find others via search engines such as Google.

Primary Sources

You might also be interested in using primary sources, especially when it comes to doing your dissertation. Primary sources include newspapers and statistical data (see following sections)

Newspapers

• The Library takes a selection of newspapers though few go back beyond 1981.  The main exceptions are  The Times, , the Financial Times, Le Monde and Die Zeit.  These are available in microfilm.  The Times is also available electronically via the Times Digital Archive 1785-1985
• A wider range of full-text newspapers going back to 1981 is available electronically via Nexis.  This does not contain  images, statistics, graphs, charts and advertisements. To see these, you will have to use the microfilm versions or go to the British Library Newspaper Library (see below)
• The British Library Newspaper Library at Colindale has back-runs of London, British provincial and some overseas newspapers

Data

• If you are interested in data then have a look at our Data Library pages. You will see information about searching for data, the scope of our collection and how to book a data session 
• You can also try our online introduction to the Data Library

Special Collections

Within the Library there are a number of special collections that may be of interest:

• Pamphlet Collection.  There are a number of collections that make up this collection overall.  Some of those relating to the 19th Century have recently been digitised and will be available for use in the near future
• Government
• Intergovernmental Organisations (IGO)

Useful information and aids for Accounting and Finance students

There are a number of resources available that help to support students studying subjects related to Accounting and Finance.  These include:

Accessing other libraries

• Information regarding access to LSE staff and students can be found by using the Using other libraries' page.
• You are entitled to borrow from the Senate House Library - take your LSE ID card along with you. This also gives you access to their online databases.
• Borrowing from other libraries is possible for LSE part-time masters students, research students and staff using the SCONUL access card that permits borrowing  from member institutions.  This can be obtained at the Help Desk on the 1st floor. 

Citing and referencing

• Once you have found your references, remember that you must cite them correctly. The Library has a useful collection of online guides on this. They include a podcast. Refer to the Departmental handbook or your tutor for guidance on which style to use.  A selected list is shown below:

• If you have a large number of references keep track of them using EndNote  bibliographic software. Use EndNote works with word to format your references automatically. You can also export references automatically from many online databases. The library offers regular training courses on this software

Obtaining Further Help

Further help can be obtained via a number of different methods:

• Check the Library home page
• See the guides and staff at the Help Desk on the 1st floor for both Library and IT inquiries
• Use the Web enquiry form which we aim to respond to within 2 working days
• Take a Library skills course - see our our Information Skills  page to book.
• Try the Moodle courses The Library Companion for Students and The Library Companion for Researchers

Collection policy

• The Accounting and Finance collection policy indicates what the Library aims to collect in relation to this subject, it's comprehensiveness and depth.  The policy is reviewed in consultation with academic staff every few years.

Contact Details

• The Library contact for the Department of Accounting and Department of Finance is Clive Wilson.
• E-Mail
• Phone: 020 7955 7475

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