Company data: why the source and the date matter

Different sources answer different questions

Company intelligence can combine registry records, financial filings, court information, publicly available material and partner assessments. These sources have different purposes. A registry record may establish a filed identity, while a credit assessment applies a methodology to available information.

Keep the source type visible. Our company data foundation uses official registry and government sources. Credit scores and suggested limits use multiple verified partners where available. Review the relevant source, methodology and date for the field you intend to use.

Four actual dates in one report

The period end, filing date, credit assessment and report generation date describe different events. Our anonymised sample contains all four. Keeping each date visible prevents the report generation date from being mistaken for the age of the underlying evidence.

Read registry and court information in context

Official sources provide important evidence, but a filing should still be checked for the correct entity and period. Companies House describes its checks on company accounts as basic checks, including the correct documents, period and authentication. A filed document is not a substitute for your assessment of its content.

For a court record, retain the court, jurisdiction, case reference, date and status where available. A similarly named company or an old case needs careful matching and interpretation before it influences a material decision.

Make information gaps visible

Public disclosure rules differ across markets and entity types. Missing financials, shareholders or legal records do not prove that there is nothing to find. Distinguish unavailable, not applicable and zero values in your workflow.

For an enterprise evaluation, test coverage against a representative sample of the companies you actually need to review. A global company count does not establish the depth of financials, ownership or credit information for an individual counterparty.

Keep the evidence attached to the decision

Preserve relevant source references, dates and the version of information used in your review, in accordance with your agreement and retention policy. That makes a later challenge easier to investigate and helps reviewers distinguish a changed fact from an earlier misunderstanding.

Use our interactive country and source directory to explore registry, court and financial references, then confirm the fields and update requirements for your company list.