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National Names Index Search Tips

Contents
How to do a company search
  • Go to www.asic.gov.au/nni
  • There are three ways to perform a search:
    • enter the organisation's number (ACN, ARBN etc) if you know it. You can also enter an Australian Business Number (ABN) for a company where that company has registered for one;
    • enter the organisation's name and specify the type of organisation it is;
    • enter the state of registration and the state identification number of a business name.
For more details, see How to enter just the right information to find what you want, below.

How to decide what group to search on

Here is an explanation of the various terms to help you decide what group to search on

Registered And Reserved Company And Business Names, Schemes, Trusts And Non Registered EntitiesIncluded are:
  • Protected Names which are Registered and Reserved Company and Business Names.
  • Protected Names are not available to a company as they are:
    • "Identical to a name that is reserved or registered under the Corporations Law for another body" or
    • "Identical to a name that is included on the national business names register in respect of another individual or body who is not the person applying to have the name"
  • Schemes - Managed Investment Schemes - for a definition see Search Information· Trusts - for a definition see Search Information
  • Non registered entities (NRETs)When it is necessary for a document to be lodged under the Corporations Law but the organisation lodging it is not a company or a registered body a NRETis created on ASCOT
  • All State Names - Business Names and Incorporated Associations (not protected)
Registered, Reserved And Deregistered Company And Business Names, Schemes, Trusts And Non Registered Entities As above plus:
  • Deregistered Company & Business Names
  • Organisations that have had their registration cancelled and companies have been dissolved.
Registered Company Names, Non-Company Names, Schemes, Trusts And Non-Registered EntitiesAll names registered or included in database by ASIC
Business and State Names All State Names
Business Names and Incorporated Associations
All Names

How to enter just the right information to find what you want.

  • Make sure you have spelt the name correctly: our system does not look for variations on spelling
  • Do not include the company's legal elements (eg, Pty, Ltd, NL)
  • Be aware that there are options for searching:
      1. ABN/ACN/ARBN/ARSN
      or
      2. Organisation name
      or
      3. Business Name - State
  • Use one option at a time - do not use them in combination - therefore:
    • Do not enter both an ACN and a name. The system searches on one or the other, but not both simultaneously
    • Use the third option - Business Name - only if you know the State in which the business is registered and the identification number allocated by the State to the Business Name. Otherwise use Option 2, key in the name as usual and make sure that you select one of the groups which includes Business and State names (see How to decide what group to search on, above)
  • Entering the ACN will give you an exact result, i.e. the name of the company which owns that ACN
  • Ensure that the word(s) you enter are those which appear at the beginning of the company name (eg if you are searching for 'Smith Auto Traders Pty Ltd' enter 'Smith Auto' not 'Auto Traders')
  • Be aware that this is not a keyword search (for keyword searches see information below on 'How can you expand your organisation name search boundaries?'.
  • Searching on one word, provided the word is not considered a 'common' one, can be an effective way of searching for a company that has a relatively uncommon name
  • Using two words will give a more accurate result, especially if the name contains 'common' words
  • In the search result, an asterisk (*) preceding the company name means that name is no longer the name of the company

Further information to help you understand the results of your search.

The following background information may help you understand your search results (ie the list of organisations returned), and to refine it if necessary.

Single word entry

If you've entered a single word, for example PELHAM,the search will find any organisations with PELHAM as their full name eg:

  • PELHAM PTY LTD

and then will find any organisation that has PELHAM somewhere in the name eg:
  • PELHAM INTERNATIONAL PTY LTD,
  • FIFTY-FIVE PELHAM ST PTY LTD,
  • PELHAM FINANCIAL SERVICES PTY LTD

However, be aware that if more than 100 entries are found only exact matches will be shown.

Multiple word entry

If you've entered multiple words, the search will always look for an exact match on all the words supplied.

For example, if PELHAM FINANCIAL SERVICES is specified, the search will first find all organisations with that full name. eg:

  • PELHAM FINANCIAL SERVICES PTY LTD.

In addition the name will be searched for using 'word pairs', from left to right, so in this example, the search would look for:
  • PELHAM FINANCIAL and
  • FINANCIAL SERVICES.

If there are no entries for PELHAM FINANCIAL as well as searching for the rest of the 'word pairs' the search will look for PELHAM.

If more than 100 entries are found only exact matches will be shown

Plurals

All plurals are translated to their singular prior to the search.

The search takes into account anomalies such as some plurals ending in 'es' and some in 's'. The search will translate 'ES' endings to exclude both the 'ES' and the 'S'.

For examples for 'LENSES' the search will look for LENS and LENSE.

The search also recognises any plural defined in the Macquarie dictionary as standard.

for examples: Knife and Knives

How can you expand your organisation name search boundaries?

If you want your search to:
  • be on a very common word (eg John) or
  • identify all the organisations in which a certain word occurs

You have two options:

You can undertake an Off Line Organisational Name Search or you can purchase a CD Rom - 'Australian Corporate Update' and/or 'Australian Corporate Update - Business Names'

Off Line Organisational Name Search - In addition to the two criteria mentioned above this search enables you to identify all the organisations in which a word that 'sounds like' the one in which you are interested occurs (eg Checker and Chequer).

Because such searches have a major impact on our database they are carried out overnight, when calls on the database are at their lowest, and can be ordered only through Information Brokers. A broker will organise the search for you and send the results to you the following morning. In common with all searches provided through Information Brokers there is a charge for this service.

What can you expect to see once you have made your choice?

Having selected the organisation in which you are interested a screen will be displayed giving the following information:


If you would like additional infomation such as the details of officeholders or the addresses of the company then you will need to purchase a full company search (company extract) from an Information Broker or an ASIC Service Centre.

Here is a comparison between what you get with a free National Names Index search and a paid company search (company extract) from the ASIC database.

Here is a guide to the cost of paid searches.

Organisation Searches - the technical detail

You can also read a detailed technical explanation of just how organisation searches work.

I want to do a search now


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