6.25.2000
How the list was made
The Impact 50 list includes public companies that have headquarters in Rhode Island or significantly affect the southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island economy.

Most of the companies appear in the Stocks of Local Interest column in the daily and Sunday business sections.

The list of 50 includes publicly traded companies that sell stock on the three major exchanges: New York Stock Exchange, American Stock Exchange and Nasdaq.

The list does not include privately held companies -- such as Boston-based Fidelity Investments -- or companies with foreign owners -- such as Citizens Financial Group, owned by The Royal Bank of Scotland, or Stop & Shop, owned by Royal Ahold, based in the Netherlands.

Those companies do not make detailed financial reports to U.S. regulatory agencies with information available to the public.

The research and data for the Impact 50 tables was compiled by Michael C. LoRusso under the direction of Dr. Gene C. Lai, professor of Risk Management and Finance and associate dean of undergraduate programs at the University of Rhode Island. LoRusso did the research as a requirement for the completion of a master's degree in Business Administration.

His project evolved into a product of The Sandra Ann Morsilli Pacific Basin Capital Markets Research Center at the University of Rhode Island. Lai is executive director of PACAP and LoRusso worked there as a research associate.

LoRusso compiled the data for the 50 from the companies' annual reports, called Form (10K), filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The forms were obtained online at http://www.sec.gov/ from the EDGAR database.

The figures reported in the consolidated balance sheets and income statements of a Form (10K) are deemed reliable because, in most cases, they were audited by an independent firm, which provides a reasonable assurance that a company's management assertions and presentations of financial data are free of material misstatements.

When the financial statements did not list the exact type of information or when the company's fiscal years did not coincide, notes explaining the differences accompany the tables presented.

This is the first time The Providence Journal has compiled and published an Impact 50 list. The newspaper, with the cooperation of URI's PACAP Research Center, hopes to publish similar lists annually.

If you have any comments, please contact John Kostrzewa, business editor, at 277-7330 or by e-mail at jkostrze@projo.com

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