media release (14-239MR)

Australian company data available at data.gov.au

Published

Datasets from ASIC’s companies register are now accessible via the Australian Government data.gov.au website.

Each month freely available data from ASIC’s companies register will be published to the website and available to download at no cost. The dataset includes company names, registration dates, Australian Company Numbers (ACN's), Australian Business Numbers (ABN's) and status, with a flag to indicate if data has been modified since the last update.

In coming months, ASIC plans to extend the datasets to include freely available information from ASIC’s business name register.

ASIC Commissioner Greg Tanzer said: ‘ASIC supports the open government initiative to provide an easy way to find, access and reuse public datasets from ASIC. The move to data.gov.au lets us distribute consolidated information that was previously available via a subscription CD in a more efficient and modern way.’

Background

Access to accurate and timely information is critical in business today. ASIC's Registry business plays an important role in storing and distributing critical information about companies, businesses, financial professionals and more. The information we collect and share helps those in business and the general public make confident and informed decisions.

Demand for ASIC Registry information grew in 2013–14:

  • 76.2 million searches of ASIC registers were requested, an increase of 8.2 million from 2012–13
  • almost 100% of searches were requested online with most provided free of charge, and
  • 30.8 million free searches were conducted directly through ASIC's website.

ASIC continues to facilitate new ways to access our data. The data.gov.au service allows the downloading of a consolidated list of select data for more than 2.1 million registered Australian companies.

View the website at www.data.gov.au.

The data made available will be a snapshot of the register at a point in time. Legislation prescribes the type of information ASIC is allowed to disclose to the public. The downloadable dataset includes the following information:

  • company name
  • ACN
  • type
  • class
  • sub class
  • status
  • date of registration
  • previous state of registration (where applicable)
  • State Registration Number (where applicable)
  • modified since last report – flag to indicate if data has been modified since last report
  • current name indicator
  • ABN
  • current name, and
  • current name start date.

Additional information about companies can be found on the ASIC website at www.asic.gov.au. Accessing some information may attract a fee.