Understand my search results

• What is the Companies Register?
• What information is available online?
• What is included in your search results?
• What documents are available online?
• What is a Certificate of Good Standing? 
• How quickly is information updated on the website?
• How much does it cost and how do I pay?
• How do I search for a company that is in liquidation or in receivership?
• What does it mean if a company is struck off?
• What does it mean if a company is reserved?

What is the Companies Register? 

Companies with limited liability provide a framework for investment in business.  They help foster confidence in businesses by governing the relationships between investors (shareholders), directors and creditors and by giving stakeholders a clearer picture of who and what they are dealing with.

A Companies Register that records basic details about every company helps build this confidence.

The New Zealand Companies Register is an electronic register where company information and documents can be filed and viewed online on this website.

The register is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

What information is available online? 

The Companies Office website contains information on:

• New Zealand Companies
• Overseas Companies (registered as carrying on business in New Zealand)

• Building Societies
• Charitable Trusts
• Contributory Mortgage Brokers
• Credit Unions
• Friendly Societies
• Incorporated Societies
• Industrial & Provident Societies
• Limited Partnerships
• Overseas Limited Partnerships 
• Overseas Issuers
• Participatory Securities
• Retirement Villages
• Superannuation Schemes
  Note | This is a subset of the list held in the Insurance and Superannuation Unit. Visit their website at www.isu.govt.nz
• 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).

Note | To search for Charitable Trusts and Incorporated Societies, and find a whole range of information to help you set up or run your society or trust, visit the Societies & Trusts website.

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What is included in your search results?

Company search results

The company details screen summarises company details and is available online for FREE.  You can search by company, director, shareholder and address details.  In addition search for previous company names and banned managers and directors.

Other registers search results

The details screen summarises organisation details and is available online for FREE.  You can search by entering the full organisation name, keywords within the name or by registered number.  In addition search for previous organisation names.

What documents are available online?

Many documents filed with the Companies Office can be conveniently viewed online as:

Electronic documents

Where the document was filed online and an electronic document was created once it was registered on the website.  For example:

• Incorporation documents
• Constitutions
• Online changes to director and address information
• Online receivership & liquidation documents.

Note | The Companies Office does not hold paper copies of electronic documents. 

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Imaged documents

Where the documents have been filed as a paper document and have been imaged (scanned) after the document has been registered.

The Registrar now images all paper documents filed where they offer additional information about the company or its operations than you would normally find by conducting a Register Search on our website.

Examples of imaged documents include:

• Paper constitutions and amendments
• Prospectuses and financial accounts
• Paper receivership and liquidation documents
• Consent forms.

Note | Routine imaging of such documents began on 1 November 2002, prior to this date only selected documents were imaged. 

Imaged documents for Incorporated Societies and Charitable Trusts

The following documents for incorporated societies and charitable trusts have been imaged:

• Key documents (for example trusts deeds and rules for incorporated societies)
• All documents registered from 8 March 2002.

For information on searching for paper documents (especially historical documents) see Company Documents Search.

What is a Certificate of Good Standing?

A Certificate of Good Standing (COGS) is a document issued by the Registrar when a company meets the following criteria:

• the company is currently registered and is not in liquidation or receivership;
• the company complied with its annual return filing requirements; and
• the company has no removal action pending.

A Certificate of Good Standing is mainly used when a company is required to prove that it is incorporated in New Zealand and that the Registrar is not taking any action to remove the company from the register.  For example, such a certificate may be required by an agency in another country.  A Certificate of Good Standing does not reflect the financial position of the company.

The fee for requesting a Certificate of Good Standing is NZ$25. 

Learn how to request a Certificate of Good Standing. 

How quickly is information updated on the website?

All information on the Companies Office database is updated in real time.  In the case of documents filed online the electronic document or document image will be available immediately.  Images for documents filed in paper form become available between three working days and two weeks after registration.  Documents can be viewed and printed by conducting a Register Search and then scrolling down to the Documents list at the bottom of the search details screen.

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How much does it cost and how do I pay?

Company searches and searches of our Other Registers are FREE, as are all document searches.

• Documents for companies - You can view as many Adobe Acrobat PDF documents as you wish for any particular company for FREE.
• Documents for voluntary organisations - All documents for voluntary organisations are FREE For example, Charitable Trusts and Incorporated Societies.
• Director, Shareholder or Address Search - Quick searches are FREE and provide current, pending and historical information.  A Standard Search provides you with a FREE printed report by email. 
  Note | You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader software installed to view or print the search report that is sent to you via email.
• The fee for requesting a Certificate of Good Standing is NZ$25.

• The fee for a search of the Personal Properties Securities Register (PPSR) is NZ$1.

Note | If you select the Charges PPSR tab on the company search result screen you will be linked to the Personal Properties Securities Register website and receive up to date information about security interests registered against that particular company number without having to pay an additional fee to search the PPSR.

How do I search for a company that is in liquidation or in receivership?

By performing a Register Search (searching the register for a company), you can easily find companies in liquidation or in receivership.

• The note '(IN LIQ)' will appear next to the company name in the search results box if the company is in liquidation. If you view company details you can view liquidation details, including who has been appointed as a liquidator.
• The note '(IN REC)' will appear next to the company name in the search results box if the company is in receivership.

Note | Notice of the appointment of a Liquidator or Receiver must be filed with the Companies Office within ten working days.

What does it mean if a company is struck off?

This refers to an entity that is no longer registered.  For a company, this may result from a failure to file annual returns, the completion of liquidation, from an amalgamation with another company or from their own request to be removed from the register.  For other entities, the ‘Struck Off’ status may mean they are no longer in existence or have requested removal.  The document filing history usually indicates why an entity has been struck off.

What does it mean if a company is reserved? 

This identifies a name that has been reserved but has yet to be used to form a new company or to change the name of an existing company.  Until the name has been used, no further information is available about the entity that will use the name or who has reserved it.  Reserved names are held for 20 working days.