How to Read a Dun & Bradstreet Report

  
Dun & Bradstreet is to business credit as FICO is to personal credit. It provides detailed reports on more than 125 million companies in more than 200 countries, including the largest volume of business-credit information in the world. Since these reports help companies like yours decide who to do business with, it's important to know how to read their report both to evaluate other companies and to know what's being said about yours.

The report, however, can be a bit intimidating to read. Here are summaries of some significant portions of a Dun & Bradstreet report, although reports do vary as to content:

 

Business Summary: This section contains a company's basic business information, including contact information, the year the business started, number of employees, sales and basic financial information, and the names of the company's principals. It also includes an SIC code, identifying the type of business it is.

 

Executive Summary: The Executive Summary highlights key information to consider when assessing a business, including its Paydex score and information on D&B predictive scores on payments and financial stress.

 

Credit Capacity Summary: This section provides an at-a-glance assessment of key factors that affect a company's ability to pay you or make late payments. It includes average high credit and total highest credit reported to D&B.

 

Financial Stress Summary: This portion predicts the likelihood of a company declaring bankruptcy or ceasing operations without paying back creditors.

 

Credit Score Class Summary: This section predicts the likelihood of a firm paying in a severely delinquent manner (90+ Days Past Terms) over the next twelve months.

Payment Trends Profile: This feature allows you to understand payment patterns, history and trends of a particular business.

 

History and Operations: This area provides you with more detailed information on the history and management of the company. 

 

Banking and Finance Summary: In this section, you receive detailed information on company assets, loans and cash flow. This information can help you determine the company's ability to afford debts. 

 

Public Filing Summary: This lists all public filings for a company, including liens, judgments, lawsuits, and filings.

 

For more information of reading a D&B report, see a sample report with explanations at https://www.dnb.com/product/comsampl.htm.

Also, read our article on "Understanding How Credit Works " to learn more about Dun & Bradstreet reports.