To vet a company properly, you work through public records in a set order: confirm it legally exists, pull its financial and litigation history, screen it and its leadership against federal watchlists, check regulatory compliance and insurance, and finish by making direct contact. Most of these checks are free or cost under $50, and every one of them turns up information that’s entirely discoverable before you sign.
Here’s how to run each step.
Confirm the Company Legally Exists
Start with the Secretary of State portal in the state where the company is registered. Every state runs one, and you can search by business name or entity number to pull up the articles of incorporation or organization, the registered agent, the formation date, and the current status.
What you want is a certificate of good standing, sometimes called a certificate of existence or status. It confirms the entity has kept up with its filings and taxes and hasn’t been dissolved or administratively suspended. A suspended company can’t legally sign binding contracts, so if good standing can’t be verified, stop negotiating until it is. These certificates run $5 to $50 from the filing office.
Verify the Employer Identification Number too. Ask for the EIN confirmation letter (IRS Notice CP-575) or an IRS Letter 147-C, which substitutes for it. If the company claims tax-exempt status, confirm that independently through the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search by EIN or name.
If the business operates under a name different from its legal entity name, check that it has filed a “doing business as” or fictitious business name registration. These are usually recorded at the county level. A company that hasn’t bothered to register its operating name is often cutting corners elsewhere.
Pull the Financial Picture
For publicly traded companies, the SEC’s EDGAR database is where the real financial information lives. Public companies must file annual reports (Form 10-K), quarterly reports (Form 10-Q), and current reports (Form 8-K) disclosing their financial condition, risk factors, and material events.1Investor.gov. Form 10-K The EDGAR full-text search covers filings back to 2001 and lets you search by company name, ticker, or CIK number.2SEC.gov. EDGAR Full Text Search Read the balance sheet, cash flow statement, and management discussion. Companies that bury bad news in footnotes or repeatedly restate earnings deserve closer attention.
Private companies don’t file with the SEC, so you’ll need a business credit report from Dun & Bradstreet or Experian Business. D&B’s PAYDEX score measures historical payment performance on a 1 to 100 scale. Scores of 80 or above indicate low risk of late payment; anything below 50 signals a company that routinely pays late.3Dun & Bradstreet. Business Credit Scores and Ratings Basic reports run under $50 through third-party providers.
Check for Uniform Commercial Code financing statements while you’re on the Secretary of State portal. These filings, governed by UCC Article 9, show whether the company has pledged equipment, inventory, or receivables as collateral.4Cornell Law School. UCC – Article 9 – Secured Transactions A company loaded with secured debt may not actually own the assets it appears to control. Most states charge $25 or less for a UCC search.
Federal tax liens matter too. When a taxpayer has unpaid taxes, the IRS files a Notice of Federal Tax Lien as a public document to alert creditors of its claim against the taxpayer’s property.5Internal Revenue Service. Understanding a Federal Tax Lien Notices are recorded with county recorders or state filing offices. A company carrying one has both a cash problem and a creditor with priority over almost everyone else.
Screen Against Federal Watchlists
Before you move money or sign anything, screen the company against federal sanctions and exclusion lists. The Office of Foreign Assets Control maintains the Specially Designated Nationals List, which names individuals and entities that U.S. persons are prohibited from transacting with. OFAC’s free search tool uses fuzzy matching to catch name variations and covers several consolidated lists.6Office of Foreign Assets Control. Sanctions List Search Tool Doing business with an SDN-listed entity can trigger severe civil and criminal penalties even if you didn’t know about the listing.
Then check SAM.gov’s Exclusions list, which identifies individuals and companies barred from federal contracts or grants and updates whenever a federal agency takes an exclusion action.7eCFR. 2 CFR Part 180 Subpart E – System for Award Management Exclusions Search by entity name, individual name, or unique entity ID at no cost.8SAM.gov. Exclusions Search A hit means a federal agency has already decided this party is unreliable or dishonest.
Check the People at the Top
A company is only as trustworthy as the people running it. Verify leadership credentials through professional networks and industry associations. Cross-check job titles, employment dates, and education. Inconsistencies aren’t automatic disqualifications, but inflated titles and unexplained gaps earn follow-up questions.
Search federal court records through PACER for any lawsuits, bankruptcies, or criminal cases involving key executives. The PACER Case Locator runs a nationwide search across federal courts when you don’t know where a case might have been filed.9United States Courts. Public Access to Court Electronic Records Access costs $0.10 per page with a $3.00 cap per document, and fees are waived if you stay under $30 in a quarter. State court searches have to run jurisdiction by jurisdiction, but they’re worth it for executives with a long history in one area.
Run executives through SAM.gov’s exclusion list individually. Leaders debarred at a previous employer don’t always disclose it. For licensed professions (accounting, engineering, law, medicine), verify credentials through the relevant state licensing board. A revoked or lapsed license on someone presenting themselves as a licensed professional is more than carelessness.
Check Regulatory and Safety Compliance
For companies with physical operations, two federal databases show whether management treats legal obligations seriously. OSHA’s Establishment Search returns any company’s workplace safety inspection history, citations, and violations by name or industry code.10Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Establishment Search A pattern of serious or willful violations says something about how the company runs.
The EPA’s ECHO database tracks environmental compliance across programs including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Search by facility name or location to see enforcement actions, inspection results, and compliance status.11ECHO | US EPA. Facility Search Help Environmental violations carry heavy fines, can shut down operations, and create liabilities that follow a company for years.
Verify Intellectual Property Claims
If the company’s value rests on patents, trademarks, or copyrighted works, confirm it actually owns them. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office offers free search tools for both. You can search patent records by assignee name, and the Trademark Center shows registration status and whether marks are active or abandoned.12United States Patent and Trademark Office. Trademark Center
For software or content businesses, the U.S. Copyright Office maintains searchable records of registrations from 1978 to the present.13U.S. Copyright Office. Search Records The office also offers deeper paid searches at $200 per hour with a two-hour minimum, which is worth it for a major acquisition built on IP ownership. A company that claims proprietary technology but has no patent filings, no trademark registrations, and no copyright records may be overstating what it owns.
Pull the Litigation History
Past and pending lawsuits reveal more about company behavior than almost any other single data source. Use PACER’s nationwide case locator to search for the company as a party in federal cases, including contract disputes, employment discrimination, IP litigation, and bankruptcy.14United States Courts. Find a Case – PACER State cases require searching each relevant state’s judiciary website separately.
One lawsuit means little. What you’re looking for is pattern. Repeated employment claims can point to a toxic workplace. Serial breach-of-contract suits suggest the company doesn’t honor its agreements. Recurring product liability actions tell their own story. Watch how cases ended. Settlements are routine; default judgments against the company, where it didn’t even show up to defend itself, are not.
Check Reputation and References
Formal records only capture problems that crossed a threshold. The Better Business Bureau tracks consumer complaints and grades businesses on responsiveness. A business has 14 days to respond to a filed complaint, and unresolved complaints stay on its profile for three years.15Better Business Bureau. How BBB Complaints Are Handled A company that ignores complaints is telling you how it will treat you when something goes wrong.
Employee review platforms open a window into internal culture that no balance sheet shows. High turnover, complaints about unpaid overtime, and consistent mentions of dishonest management predict future problems. Weight recent reviews more heavily, because leadership and culture can shift within a year.
If you’re evaluating the company as a vendor or partner, ask for trade references and actually call them. Ask specifically: what credit terms were extended, whether invoices were paid on time, what the average days-beyond-terms looked like, and whether credit limits were exceeded. A refusal to provide references, or references you can’t independently verify, is a signal in itself.
Get a Certificate of Insurance Before Signing
If you’re hiring a contractor, partnering with a vendor, or entering a joint venture, request a certificate of insurance before you sign. A COI is a one-page summary from the company’s insurance carrier confirming active coverage, policy limits, and effective dates. It costs the company nothing to produce, and any legitimate business will send one without hesitation.
At minimum, look for general liability coverage, which protects against third-party bodily injury and property damage claims. Depending on the industry, you may also want to confirm workers’ compensation coverage (required in nearly every state for companies with employees), professional liability or errors-and-omissions coverage, and commercial auto coverage if vehicles are involved. No COI, or coverage limits that seem implausibly low for the scope of work, means you may be absorbing their risk.
Finish With Direct Contact and a Site Visit
After the database work, make direct contact. Schedule a call or meeting with a company representative to go through your findings and raise what came up during research. Frame it as standard due diligence. Legitimate companies expect the process and welcome it. Companies that get evasive or hostile when asked straightforward questions about registration, finances, or insurance are answering you anyway.
For significant commitments, visit in person. Walk the facilities, watch operations, and talk to employees on the floor. Shell companies and paper-only operations fall apart under in-person scrutiny because there’s nothing to show. Confirm the equipment exists, the staff are actually working, and the scale of operations matches what was represented. This is the step people skip because it feels redundant after all the digital checking. It isn’t. It catches what databases can’t.