In the US, a corporation’s Articles of Incorporation is one of the most fundamental documents it needs to file with a Secretary of State office in order to begin legally operating. Consequently, a Secretary of State office is the official place where another party can find a copy of a corporation’s Articles of Incorporation, as it’s considered a public information document.
A common example is another business wanting to form a relationship with the corporation, either to sell the corporation products/services or to partner in the enterprise. The business will look for Articles of Incorporation to (partially) verify the corporation actually exists and is legally registered to operate where it does.
This article talks about acquiring copies of Articles of Incorporation from a Secretary of State office. We discuss what information about a corporation can be found in its Articles of Incorporation, and why this information is important to the corporation, governments, and other businesses. We also introduce some other ways to find a corporation’s Articles of Incorporation that may be faster, more efficient, and/or less expensive.
Our first topic is what Articles of Incorporation are, and why they must be filed with—and can be retrieved from—Secretary of State offices.
Articles of Incorporation is a set of documents that allows a corporation to legally exist. It outlines key information about a company’s identity, including its name, address, purpose, leadership/liaison contacts, and stock offerings. Articles of Incorporation are filed with a Secretary of State office.
Articles of Incorporation are one of a series of business formation documents that businesses need to get to meet KYB compliance requirements when engaging in B2B relationships.
Secretary of State offices in the various states and territories across the US are the main official repositories of information on US businesses. They’re the government institutions with which businesses have to file most of their paperwork needed to start legally operating in particular jurisdictions—including Articles of Incorporation for corporations. Conversely, they’re also the official providers of this information to other entities wanting to know about it—including other organizations performing KYB as a precursor to professional relationships.
Middesk provides a direct link to Secretary of State portals for all US states and territories. This allows businesses to search for Articles of Incorporation—and other information needed to validate businesses—at all official sources at once, without having to consult one at a time. Not only is the data delivered quicker, but it’s also the most current data available.
Here at Middesk, we pride ourselves on providing accurate, fresh data that customers can use to make informed, data-driven decisions. That’s why we recommend companies put their KYB vendors to the test to ensure the data they’ll get will meet their needs.
