Companies Office
Company and director search in New Zealand: officers, shareholding and filing history
Company records are how you get from a trading name to the people behind it, and from one person to the other entities they are connected to.
What the register holds
The Companies Office register, maintained by MBIE under the Companies Act 1993 and related legislation, records company registration and status, directors and their appointment dates, shareholders and shareholding, registered office and address for service, and filing history including annual returns and constitutional documents.
Two enquiries run off it. The first goes from an entity to its people: who directs it, who owns it, and where documents can properly be served. The second goes from a person to their entities: what else they direct, what they have directed previously, and whether a pattern of short-lived companies sits behind the file in front of you.
Identifying a director when the address is reduced
Less director address detail on the public register changes how identification is done, but does not make it impossible. Appointment dates, shareholding, co-director overlap and the registered office trail are all still on the record, and a distinctive combination of those is usually enough to establish that two entries are the same person.
Where the register alone is not conclusive, the corroborating record comes from elsewhere in the same enquiry: a credit file address, a title record for the same locality, or a digital footprint result linking the name to the business. This is the practical case for consolidation. The identification is made across sources, not within one.
What a company and director search returns
- Company registration, incorporation date and current status.
- Directors, appointment and cessation dates, and other directorships held.
- Shareholders and shareholding allocations.
- Registered office, address for service and filing history.
How it fits the rest of the enquiry
Company records rarely close an enquiry on their own, and rarely fail to change one. A trading counterparty in poor standing, a director with a history of struck-off entities, or an address for service that differs from the address you were about to use are each a decision point that appears in the same result set as the rest of the search.
This source is queried as part of a consolidated skip tracing enquiry, on the same authorised-purpose declaration and the same audit record as every other source. There is no separate account, no separate invoice and no minimum spend against it. What you pay is the monthly subscription plus the searches you run, set out on the pricing page.
Questions about companies office
Can I search directors as well as companies?
Yes. The enquiry runs in both directions: from a company to its officers and shareholders, and from a person to the entities they are or were connected with.
Is company information public in New Zealand?
The register is a public record maintained under the Companies Act 1993 and accessed under MBIE terms of use. Within intelID it is still searched on a declared authorised purpose and still logged.
How do I confirm an address for service?
The register records the registered office and the address for service, and the search returns both. Confirming that documents will actually be received there is a separate step, and is where the address verification work matters.
Does the search show previous directorships?
Where the register holds the history, previous appointments and cessation dates are returned with the current position.
Request access to intelID
Tell us who you are and what you need to search, and we will set up your account. Verification is part of the process and usually straightforward. Most accounts are verified and issued within 2 business days.