Maintain accurate records to assess the health of your business. Without them, it’s difficult to quickly identify trends, calculate ratios or make decisions for the future. These records are also required to support your financial statements, as well as when filing tax returns. These include income statements (profit and loss statements) and balance sheets.
The majority of states have departments of corporations or secretary of state offices that require companies to file an official statement of ownership. The majority have made these documents available online. You can search these records using the name of the company and the websites generally offer a list of names of the officers and directors along with their addresses, as well as additional information about the company. Certain private companies or firms compile directories of businesses. These directories can include the city in which a company has its headquarters or the place where it is registered. They may also include contact information, the principal officer or officers, and a short profile of the type of business the company is involved in.
A lot of cities require that any person or company operating an enterprise within the city file a registration and a number of cities have put these documents online. Some counties also keep fictitious business name indexes, where the top officers or partners of a partnership may be listed with their addresses. Some states maintain a master list of all names used in fictitious business. The secretary of state and corporate departments have also made these available online.