How to search the other registers

The Companies Office website contains information on a range of other entities.

• Building Societies
• Charitable Trusts
• Contributory Mortgage Brokers
• Credit Unions
• Friendly Societies
• Incorporated Societies
• Industrial and Provident Societies
• Limited Partnerships
• Other Bodies
• Overseas Issuers
• Overseas Limited Partnerships
• Participatory Securities
• Retirement Village
• Superannuation Schemes
  Note | This is a subset of the list held in the Insurance and Superannuation Unit (ISU).
  Visit the ISU website.
• Unit Trusts

Each of these entities is legally required to file certain documents with the Companies Office.  The amount and type of information stored on our database depends on the Act that the entity is registered under (and the extent to which information is stored electronically).

What you need to know 

There are two options available to you for conducting an search of the other Registers - other registers search and previous name search.  Searching is easy and all information is FREE.

An other registers search allows you to locate a registered organisation using the name, registered number or keywords.  This search will locate the organisations that are currently registered as well as those that have been removed from the register (struck off).  A previous name search allows you to locate a registered organisation using a previous name (if the name was changed after 1 July 2006).
 

Quick access tips

• An other registers search provides the organisational addresses, date of incorporation, details of name changes and much more.  Some information is optional - for example, Incorporated Societies and Charitable Trusts are invited to provide details of their officers and other contact details, but this is not mandatory. 
   
• An other registers search is FREE
• Search by incorporation number if known

Quick links to information about the search options

Other registers search

• Number search
• Standard name search
• Keyword search
• Document search

Previous name search

• Previous name search

Other registers search

On entry into this service you will be presented with a list of all of the registers available for searching.  Confirm the register you intend to search by selecting the relevant tick box.  Click on the Continue button to proceed to the search screen.

Information about each register type can be found under the other entities we register option at the top of this page. 
 

Number search

Every entity registered with the Companies Office has a unique reference number.  If you know this number, simply type it in the standard search field and click on submit search.  The next screen displays the organisation name and number.  Click on the link to see more information about that organisation.

Note | We no longer attach an alphabetic prefix to the number, please only enter the number for this search (for example, enter 123456 not AK123456).

Standard name search

Enter the first few characters of an organisation name in the standard search box and click on submit search.  Click on an organisation name from the list to see more information about that organisation.

If you wish to select another organisation from this list, select the previous search button to return to the list.

Keyword search

Keywords can appear anywhere within an entity name.  Choose words that you think will return fewer results.  Common words like 'Club', 'Incorporated', 'Limited Partnership', 'Trust' and 'Society' cannot be searched as they are not unique enough to be considered keywords.

Entities that will be searched include Incorporated Societies, Charitable Trusts, Building Societies, Industrial and Provident Societies, Limited Partnerships and Overseas Limited Partnerships.

Document search

Some documents for other registered entities can be viewed online.  PDF documents are identified by this icon  indicating that it has been imaged.  To access these documents, you need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your PC.

• Get a FREE copy of the certificate of incorporation (At this stage these are only freely available for Charitable Trusts and Incorporated Societies)
• Access copies of other registered documents for voluntary organisations FREE of charge.
   

Previous name search

A previous name search locates an other entity using a previous name, even if you do not know the current name of the organisation.

If you can not find a name using the other registers search option it maybe that the organisation has changed its name.  To find out if this is the case, you can use the previous name search facility.

Always use the register search facility to locate organisations you suspect may have been struck off (removed from the register).  The previous name search option will look for historical organisation names, not historical organisations.

How does the previous name search work?

The previous name search facility searches the register for the historic names of entities.  These are the names that have previously been the registered name of an entity.  For example, if ABC Incorporated changes its name to XYZ Incorporated, ABC Incorporated will be the historic name of XYZ Incorporated. 

How to search a previous name

On entry into this service you will be presented with a list of all of the registers available for searching.  Confirm the register you intend to search by selecting the relevant tick box.  Click on the Continue button to proceed to the search screen.

Information about each register type can be found under the other entities we register option at the top of this page.

1. From the Do It Now menu choose Search - Other registers.
2. Select Previous Name Search.
3. Either enter the relevant number (without the alpha district prefix e.g. enter 123456 not AK123456)
4. Or enter the first few characters of the historic name.  If you are not sure of the exact name you can enter keywords from the historic name in the relevant field.
5. Click on the Submit Search button to display a list of search results.  The results display the historic or former name and the entity's current registered name.
6. The search results are displayed in groups of ten.  Use the Next 10 and Previous 10 buttons to scroll through the list until you find the company you want.  Double-click on either the historic name or the current name.  This will display the current information for the entity.