Registry extract
The register's own current summary of a company: registered name, registration number, status, registered address, incorporation date, legal form and, where the register publishes them, officers and shareholders. It is the most widely available official company document and the one most AML and KYB procedures ask for. Some registers call it a company extract, a company profile or a registry report, and the same document is meant.
Certificate of incorporation
The certificate the register issued when the company was formed. It proves the company exists as a legal person and states its registered name, its registration number and its date of incorporation. It is a historical document: it does not show anything that changed afterwards, so a name change or a move of registered office will not appear on it. Where a company has changed its name, the register may also hold a certificate of change of name, which is the document that connects the two.
Memorandum and articles of association
The company's constitutional documents as filed. They set out what the company may do and the internal rules governing shares, directors and decision making. Jurisdictions differ on the name: constitution, statutes and rules all describe the equivalent filing.
Annual return
A periodic filing in which the company confirms or updates its registered particulars as at a given date, typically its address, its officers and its shareholdings. In registers that do not publish a live shareholder list, the annual return is usually the document that evidences an ownership position, which is why it matters for beneficial-ownership work.
Annual accounts and financial statements
The financial statements a company is required to file. What is filed varies widely: some jurisdictions require full audited accounts, some abridged accounts, and some require nothing at all from a private company.
Change filings
The individual notices a company files when something changes: an officer appointed or resigned, a share allotment or transfer, a change of registered office, a change of name. Where a register publishes them, they are the audit trail behind the current extract, and they are how you evidence when a change took effect rather than merely that it did.
Charges and security interests
Where a register records them, filings showing security granted over the company's assets, and whether a charge has been satisfied. Relevant to lending and to counterparty credit review.
What we do not do
- Documents are not a paid add-on. The standard set for the jurisdiction is included in the price of the record.
- We do not certify, legalise or apostille documents. Those are separate services provided by the register itself or by a notary. What you receive is the official filing as the register issues it.
- We do not supply documents from anywhere other than the official register.