Maintaining accurate records can help you assess the performance of your business. You can’t easily identify patterns, calculate ratios or make future decisions without them. These records are also needed to back up your financial statements and when filing tax returns. These include income statements (profit and loss statements) and balance sheets.
Most states have corporate departments or secretaries of state offices who require companies to file an official statement of ownership. These documents are accessible online in the majority of cases. You can look up these records by the name of the company, and the websites often include a list of the names of the officers and directors and their addresses as well as other information about the business. Some private firms or companies create business directories. These directories may include the city where a company’s headquarters or where it’s registered. They can also contain contact information, the main officer or officers, as well as an outline of the kind of business the company is involved in.
Many cities require any person who wishes to do business in their city to sign up. These documents are available on the internet. Some counties keep fictitious names of companies, in which the top officers of a partnership or their addresses are listed. Some states keep an inventory of all fictitious names for businesses. Counties, the secretary of state docuware software overview and corporation departments have also made these available online.