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As a business owner, you might need to check if other companies are registered in Singapore for various reasons.
One common reason for conducting due diligence would be to verify if potential business partners and suppliers are credible before entering into a partnership.
Why is it Necessary to Check a Company’s Credibility?
For business structures such as limited liability partnerships, verifying a company will be especially useful.
It enables business owners to verify the legitimacy of potential partners and avoid future fraud or severe financial consequences. It can also safeguard your company from untrustworthy partners.
How to Verify a Singapore-Registered Company?
To check if a company is registered in Singapore, you should conduct a due diligence check with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA). ACRA has a Singapore Registered Company List on Bizfile+, its complimentary online search platform.
There are 2 foolproof ways of verifying if a company is registered in Singapore:
- ACRA registry search
- ACRA’s business profile function
Both functions provide you with:
- Name of business entity
- Registration number (UEN)
- Operational status of the business
- Registered business address
- Principal business activities
The additional information that the ACRA’s company search tool provides you with would be the:
- Annual Returns (AR)
- Annual General Meeting (AGM)
- Financial Statements
However, you would need to purchase the business entity’s profile if you require the
- Company’s date of incorporation,
- Business type, and;
- Information of position holders or business owners
ACRA’s Company Search Tool
The steps for using ACRA’s company search tool are as follows:
Step 1: Go to ACRA’s registry
Step 2: Enter the name or registration number (UEN) of the company you’d like to verify, then click ‘Search’
Step 3: You should then see the aforementioned information about the company
ACRA’s Business Profile Function
To download the business profile of the company, follow the same steps as the ACRA’s company search tool, then click ‘Business Profile’.
After you make a successful payment, you will receive an email with a URL to download the report within 15 minutes.
Using Rikvin’s Company Search Tool
Alternatively, you can use Rikvin’s Singapore Company Name Registration Check tool if you only require simple information such as the:
- Company’s UEN,
- Company name,
- Company type,
- Date of incorporation, and
- Company status
What Information Should I Specifically Look Out For?
Operational Status of Business
The operational status of a business is a metric that indicates whether a company is fully operational or has ceased operations.
All registered companies in Singapore, whether local companies or foreign companies, are required to update their company status on a regular basis, and failure to do so could be a warning sign.
You should look out for the “live” status that indicates whether or not the company is currently operational.
Registered Business Address
When verifying a company in Singapore, a valid registered business address is especially useful, as an incorrect or suspicious address will immediately raise a red flag.
Check to see if their address is legitimate or just a mailbox. You should also look out for a valid registered business address.
Annual Returns (AR)
All companies are required to submit an annual report to ACRA within 30 days of the annual general meeting of shareholders under the Singapore Companies Act.
Look out for the date of the most recent filing and the financial year-end (FYE).
Related Read: Annual Filing Requirements with ACRA
Annual General Meeting (AGM)
Private companies may be exempted from holding AGMs or may elect not to hold AGMs altogether.
If you are searching for a public company, check whether the AGM field is filled with the date of its last held AGM. It should typically not be more than 1 year prior.
Related Read: Everything you need to know about Annual General Meetings (AGM) »
Financial Statements
Financial statements indicate whether or not the company has met all of the requirements and submitted its financial statements to ACRA.
Watch out for thoroughly completed and filed financial statements!
How Can Rikvin Help You Conduct Due Diligence?
At Rikvin, we understand that checking the company profiles as well as the profiles of the numerous business owners, beneficiary owners, and shareholders might be laborious.
By engaging Rikvin’s services, we will do the required KYC (Know Your Customer) to screen your potential business partners for any signs of money laundering (ML) and terrorism financing (TF) risks.
Find out more information about Rikvin’s due diligence processes!
FAQs
- Some instances of needing to check if a company is registered in Singapore include:
- Operational status of a company
- Conducting due diligence before entering into a business partnership
- Obtaining additional information about people associated with a specific business entity, such as all of the business entities in which a person is involved, his roles in these entities, and the status of these entities.
- To determine if a company is registered in Singapore, you will require the following information:
- Registration number (UEN)
- Company status
- Registered address
- Annual returns
- Annual general meeting
- Financial statements
- Information on business owners and other key stakeholders
- ACRA is the most complete database to determine if a company is registered in Singapore because it is the sole platform for business registration in Singapore. For a list of registered entities in Singapore, you may refer to the dataset by data.gov.sg.
Need help checking if a company is registered in Singapore?
Leave the task of checking if your potential business partners are credible to us for peace of mind.
