Corporate Profile Report – Alberta Corporate Search and Official Records

Alberta corporate search: two levels of information

Level one, the free lookup. Alberta's corporate records live in CORES, the Corporate Registry System run by Service Alberta. Our lookup shows the basics from the public notices published for each corporation in the Alberta Registrar's Periodical: legal name, corporate access number, status, corporation type and registration date. It answers "does this company exist and is it active?" and nothing more.

Level two, the profile report. The report is the corporation's record as Corporate Registry holds it: legal name and corporate access number; status; registered office and other addresses; current directors with their addresses; the shareholder information reported on annual returns (Alberta corporations report their top five shareholders, with names, addresses and percentage of issued voting shares); and the history of documents filed, from the Articles of Incorporation to the latest annual return.

Federal (CBCA) corporations and corporations from other provinces must register extra-provincially in Alberta to carry on business here, so they appear on the Alberta register with an Alberta agent for service. Their directors and articles stay on the home registry's record.

What an Alberta corporate registry search cannot tell you

When you search a company in Alberta, you see what has been filed with Corporate Registry, and only that.

• It does not show lawsuits, judgments or complaints.
• It does not show credit history, debts or whether the company pays its bills.
• It does not show tax filings. The T2 corporate tax return, the business number and GST accounts are with CRA, not Corporate Registry.
• It does not show shareholders below the top five, or the individuals behind a holding company that is itself a shareholder.
• It shows the record as filed, which can be stale if the corporation has not filed a change of directors or address.

Treat the report as the first step in due diligence, and ask your lawyer what else to check before a large commitment.

Who this is for

• The owner about to sign a lease, a supply contract or a subcontract, who wants to know the other company is real, active and run by the people they have been dealing with.
• The homeowner or project manager checking a contractor before paying a deposit.
• The owner confirming their own record after a filing: the new director shows, the old address is gone, the annual return is on file.
• The lawyer, accountant or paralegal who needs a current report for a closing, a financing or a new file, in PDF, today.

How it works

1. Run the free lookup by name or number. If the corporation exists, you see its status and registration date on screen.
2. Order the profile report from the result, or from the short form below it. About two minutes.
3. A CORES-trained agent checks the match within one business hour: right corporation, right jurisdiction, and whether a certificate of status or a certified copy would serve you better.
4. We order the report through a licensed Alberta registry agent and email it as a PDF, usually the same business day for orders received before 3:00 pm MT. ACS is a private company; we are not a government office or a registry agent.

If a report cannot be produced, for example because the corporation is not on the Alberta register, we tell you before you pay. Our refund policy covers the rest.

Common mistakes we catch before ordering

• The wrong corporation. "ABC Holdings Ltd." and "ABC Holdings Inc." are two different companies; we match on the corporate access number, not just the name.
• A trade name instead of a legal name. The report is on the corporation, so we find the corporation behind the trade name first.
• A report when a certificate was needed. If a bank asked for proof of good standing, the certificate of status is the document they want.
• An out-of-province company searched only in Alberta. The Alberta record shows the extra-provincial registration; the directors and articles are on the home record.
• Reading "struck" as "gone for good." A struck corporation can be revived within 10 years, so a struck status on a company you are chasing is not the end of the trail.

What you need before you start

• The corporation's legal name or, better, its corporate access number. The number is on the certificate of incorporation and on annual return reminders, and it identifies one corporation even when several names look alike.
• If you only have a trade name (a business name that is not the legal name), start with the free lookup; we can help find the corporation behind it.
• An email address for delivery and a credit card. You do not need a registry login, because business owners cannot search or file in CORES, Alberta's Corporate Registry System, themselves; searches go through a licensed registry agent.

• The free lookup: legal name, status from the latest public notice (active, liable for dissolution, struck off or dissolved, or amalgamated), corporate access number, corporation type and registration date. No account and no charge.
• The profile report: the corporation's record as held by Alberta Corporate Registry (the government office that keeps the record of every Alberta corporation), ordered through a licensed registry agent and emailed to you as a PDF.
• A CORES-trained agent confirms you have the right corporation before the report is ordered, so you do not pay for a report on a similarly named company.
• The government fee, paid on your behalf and included in the price.
• Delivery by email, usually the same business day for orders received before 3:00 pm MT.
• One account for advisors ordering reports for many clients, with partner pricing.