Guide

Video tutorials

The most important functions in five short videos of about one minute each.

The recordings show the German user interface; explanations and subtitles are in English. The narration is synthetically generated.

Quick guide: CompanyDesk in one minute

With a single search, CompanyDesk searches the connected registers of 22 European countries and shows selected information from official and open sources, each with source and date. Which information is available depends on the respective register.

• One search for Europe. A company name is enough. With the multi-country search, CompanyDesk queries all connected registers at once and sorts the results by country.
• With source and date. Every profile states the source, the date and a link to the official register. Figures are presented without assessment.
• Ready to use. Copy company name, registration number and address with one click, print profiles, reuse financial data as a table or CSV.
• Stay up to date. With CompanyDesk Pro, save up to 20 companies and learn by email when essential data change.

1. Enter a company name or registration number in the search field and click Search.
2. Choose the company you want from the results list; the country buttons let you narrow the list.
3. In the profile, read the information, print it or add it to your watchlist.

Basic use is free: without an account 5 queries per day, with an account 10 per day and at most 150 per month. CompanyDesk Pro extends the scope and features.

1. Searching

The default is Austria. You can choose another country below the search field. With the multi-country search, CompanyDesk queries all connected registers at once; it counts as one query but uses the quotas of all sources queried.

You can search by company name or part of it and by registration number. Variant spellings, umlauts and legal form suffixes are taken into account; registration numbers are recognised regardless of spaces and separators. The Status field lets you limit the search to active or inactive companies.

Some registers allow only certain search methods: in Poland, companies are found by KRS number; in Denmark, by CVR number or the full, exact company name. The results list indicates this for the country concerned. If a source does not respond in time, this is also shown; an empty result then does not mean that the company does not exist.

2. Results list

Each result shows company name, status, registration number, legal form, date of registration and address, as well as the country and the source. Under Results by country you can narrow the list with one click on a country, without a new query.

The copy icon in the result line copies company name, registration number and address in one line to the clipboard, for instance for contract headings or pleadings. With Save, CompanyDesk Pro users add a company to their watchlist.

3. The company profile

Clicking on the company name opens the profile. The Master data tab shows company name, registration number, legal form, status, business address, registered office, date of registration, identifiers such as VAT number and LEI and, where the source provides them, capital and officers.

Which information appears depends on the respective register; not every register publishes all fields. Source and date appear at the end of every profile. Open source leads to the official register, where the binding extract can be obtained.

4. Annual accounts and balance sheet analysis

Where a register publishes annual accounts, the Annual accounts tab shows with CompanyDesk Pro a presentation of balance sheet and profit and loss account over several years with key figures, charts and CSV export; individual and consolidated accounts are shown separately. Registered users without Pro can try five financial analyses free of charge; otherwise the financial analysis is shown only blurred.

Period lets you set the display to the last three or five years or to all years. Copy table and Copy chart transfer the content to Word or Excel, Save as image stores a chart as an image file, and All data as CSV provides all figures with source and disclaimer for spreadsheets. Logged-in users retrieve documents such as annual accounts with Retrieve document directly from the registering authority.

5. Printing and reuse

Print in the profile and Print analysis in the balance sheet analysis produce a version set for paper and PDF with source, time of retrieval and disclaimer. After printing, even after cancelling, the view stays at the same position.

With CompanyDesk Pro, a firm name and logo can be entered in My CompanyDesk, which appear in the header of every printout. Printed profiles remain available there to logged-in users for seven days.

6. Countries and guides

Each country has its own page, accessible via All registers below the search field. It names the register in the national language, contains a search field for that country only and a guide: who keeps the register, who is registered, how to obtain the official extract, with links to the official bodies and frequently asked questions.

7. Account and My CompanyDesk

For a free account, an email address and password are sufficient; the address is confirmed via a link sent to you. My CompanyDesk then offers:

• Watchlist, with CompanyDesk Pro: up to 20 saved companies, with optional email notification when essential data such as name, status, address or officers change. The comparison runs once a day.
• Printed profiles: the profiles printed in the last seven days, available for reopening.
• Retrieved documents: a list of retrieved documents that can be deleted at any time.
• Remaining quota.
• Information by email about new features and products, only with express consent and revocable at any time.
• Delete account: permanently remove the account together with the watchlist, printed profiles and the list of documents.

8. Quotas

Without an account, 5 queries per day are available; with a confirmed account, 10 per day and up to 150 per month. A search and opening a profile each count as a query, even if a source returns no results. When the quota is reached, CompanyDesk states when it will be renewed. Changes to the quotas and the introduction of paid services are reserved.

9. Data protection

Profiles of sole traders and comparable entities, which are usually run by a private individual at their home address, can be viewed on CompanyDesk but are not included in search engines. In Sweden, sole traders are not included in the dataset at all, because their registration number is their personal identity number. CompanyDesk does not store retrieved documents. Details are set out in the privacy policy.

10. CompanyDesk Pro

The register data themselves, namely master data, status, officers and source, remain free for everyone. CompanyDesk Pro adds for professional research:

• Queries without daily or monthly quota, within ordinary use.
• The financial analysis over all available years with charts and CSV export, where offered for the country and the accounts were filed in structured form.
• Printouts with your own logo and firm name.
• A watchlist of up to 20 companies with change notifications.
• Retrieval record: every opening of a profile with time, source, date and a checksum of the information seen, available as CSV, for example for documenting due diligence obligations.

Price: €5.90 a month or €59.00 a year, in each case for one user and including VAT. Orders are placed on the CompanyDesk Pro page and paid via Paddle; you manage invoices, payment method and cancellation in the Paddle customer portal.

11. What CompanyDesk is and is not

CompanyDesk reproduces selected information as provided by the registering authorities, standardised in terminology and format and stating origin and date. CompanyDesk is not an official register and does not issue official register extracts; only the extract of the registering authority is binding. Figures and their development are presented without assessment; they are not a credit report and not an assessment of creditworthiness.