22 Oct How to Find Online Business Records
Maintaining accurate records can help you assess the health of your business. You can’t easily identify patterns, calculate ratios, or make decisions in the future without them. These records are also required when you file tax returns, and to support the information that you present in your financial statements. These include income statements (profit and loss statements) and balance sheets.
Many states have corporate departments or secretaries of state offices that require companies to file an official statement of ownership. These documents are available on the internet in the majority of instances. You can search for these documents by name of the company and most websites will offer the list of officers or directors, addresses and other information about the business. Certain private companies or firms compile directories of business. These directories can include the city where a company’s headquarters or where it’s registered. They may also include contact information, the main officer or officers, as well as an overview of the kind of business the company is involved with.
Many cities require anyone who wants to do business in their city to register. These documents are available online. Some counties also maintain fictitious business name indexes, where the principal partners or the top officers of a company could be listed along with their addresses. Some states have a master list of all fictitious business names and some counties, as well as the secretary of the state or corporation departments have put these online.