Company registrations

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Notes

To find company registration details:

  • Perform a basic search by placing the company name in the Title field. This often works but sometimes companies are listed only by company number.
  • To find the company number within the company series, look at the registers then search online by that number. We do not hold private company records, unless the company has chosen to deposit them. To find if we hold records for a company, try an agency search. For example, entering Electrolytic Zinc in the Title field will find E. Z. Company holdings. A Basic search produces many related entries rather than just the records transferred by the E. Z. Company.
  • Before 1870 people lodged company registrations with the Supreme Court to create an official record but it was voluntary.
  • Before the Business Names Act 1962, ‘firm’ was the preferred term.
  • The Companies Office was responsible for company registration and control, firms and business names, friendly societies and some trade unions and other bodies.
  • When the Companies Office closed, records for current businesses transferred to the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC).
  • There is no longer state-based registration for business names in Australia. Like companies, ASIC manages business names.

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