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Eight hundred years ago, at the time of Marco Polo, passes and safe conducts were necessary for traders who braved the dangers of the 15-thousand-kilometer Silk Road. Without being accredited by the seal of an authority known even in remote lands, one would not go very far. Three hundred years later, the Italian merchants who looked to the rich markets of Northern Europe started adding letters of credit, issued by the bankers of the time, as a guarantee of their seriousness and solvency while doing business far from home.
At that time, merchant corporations had also begun to operate very effective postal services to keep themselves updated on the economic, social and political developments of the known world. A merchant's archives could reach extraordinary dimensions. In that of Francesco Datini - a rich merchant from the township of Prato, near Florence - 150,000 such letters were found, together with 500 account books from his fortunate businesses. Being informed enabled merchants to make better and timely decisions with prudence and measure, very much like today.
Since then, markets, products, services, infrastructures, technologies have dramatically changed. One thing, though, remains as strong as before: the need for a system to guarantee mutual trust to do business. Today, like eight centuries ago, economic growth cannot do without trusted networks between producers, traders and consumers. Updated and reliable information is a vital asset to plan investments, choose a new partner, monitor the performance of the existing ones. It is even better when this information is certified by a trusted authority or institution.
Today, old passes and letters have the shape of bits, they travel at instant speed from one corner of the world to another and, above all, we can manage them directly from our mobile devices.
Italianbusinessregister.it: the potential of this platform
Company profiles, statutes, corporate structures and control chains and especially financial statements are a must in the toolbox of any entrepreneur wanting to reduce risks while expanding the company scope. If your business has Italy in view, a great help to get official information about a company’s solvency can be found at Italianbusinessregister.it (IBR), a portal which offers easy access to about one million accounts every year, ranging from primary standing companies to the smallest manufacturer in their supply chain.
Any Italian joint-stock and limited liability company are required by law to file a certain number of financial documents to the Chambers of Commerce in order to ensure full transparency for market operators. Balance sheets and income statements provide information on the company situation in terms of its financial position, assets and liabilities, equity, incurred costs and earned revenue during the fiscal year. Alongside these company’s key figures, an additional note to the shareholders can also be found in the annual accounts, in which the company provides further information to detail the company's performance. Notably, as financial statements are filed using the XBRL format (eXtensible Business Reporting Language, a standard developed to improve the way in which financial data is communicated), all data can easily be processed and integrated in one’s own data analysis application for further and easy use.
Competition in the digital economy has pushed the boundaries of markets to coincide with the planet itself. Accessing a reliable source such as the Chambers of Commerce in Italy is essential to ensure intangible assets, such as trust, that serve our businesses today as in the days of Marco Polo.
IBR is the English version – output included – of the official Italian Business Register held at the Chambers of Commerce, the public entities legally responsible for collecting, storing and distributing information on all Italian businesses.
The search features allow for filtering one’s own target by type of company - including a specific view over the innovative startup segment in the Register - thus easily traceable both by sector of activity and territory. In a few steps, it is possible to obtain a “map” of potential partners to refer to for investment purposes or, more simply, to establish a business connection based on sound and trusted public information. Once the map is drawn, drilling down into specific information – legal, financial, geographical and more – is made easy by the availability of a number of different outputs.
As all documents retrieved through IBR are official, starting a search from here is a step on solid ground. The guarantee of reliability of the information provided is also backed by a "QR Code" printed on the first page of the report, the identification code thanks to which anyone can check, directly from their smartphone or tablet (as well as from a PC), that the document in their possession corresponds to the one on file in the Business Register at the time of extraction.
Other outputs available at IBR
It contains the personal, legal, economic and fiscal information of a company, as reported in the Italian Business Register. It includes reference to registration, name, details, contacts, address of the registered office, PEC (certified e-mail), registered office, secondary offices and local units, tax code / VAT number, legal nature, date of foundation, corporate purpose, distribution of share capital, activities that are carried out, any quality certificates, certifications, administrative positions, control positions and qualifications, corporate bodies, owners and partners with shares, presence in other registers, possession of roles and licenses.
Using filters, it is also possible to extract customized lists of companies from the portal, both simple (with information only on the company name and geographic data) and more structured lists, in which - in addition to the basic data - it is also possible to obtain information on economic, personnel-related and additional information such as website, telephone number and e-mail address where stated.
The Italianbusinessregister.it in short
Created since its inception - in 1996 - electronically by InfoCamere, on behalf of the Italian chamber system, the Business Register is the official, complete and updated archive of public information relating to companies operating in Italy, required by law to register with Chambers of Commerce. Thanks to the italianbusinessregister.it portal, the Register can be consulted by the international public through a version completely designed to facilitate the search and identification of information that is essential to establish reliable B2B relationships between foreign operators and Italian companies. Name and deeds of incorporation, people working there, any changes made after their foundation and economic activities carried out, offices in the area and certifications received: the Register is the essential starting point for each operator who wants to know the Italian production system - large groups, business networks and innovative startups - to verify the truthfulness of information on a customer or potential supplier or to identify possible partners to develop their business.
