Use-Case Playbook: Researching Companies
Overview
This playbook guides journalists, researchers, and accountability investigators through the process of researching corporate structures, beneficial ownership, financial relationships, and regulatory compliance using publicly available sources.
Audience: Journalists, researchers, financial accountability advocates Application: Corporate accountability reporting, government contractor research, shell company tracing, sanctions screening
Quick Reference
| What You Need | Tool |
|---|---|
| Company registrations | OpenCorporates, Secretary of State portals |
| Beneficial ownership | ICIJ Offshore Leaks, FinCEN BOI registry |
| Sanctions / PEP screening | OpenSanctions |
| SEC filings | EDGAR (sec.gov) |
| Court / litigation | PACER, CourtListener |
| Political donations | OpenSecrets, FEC.gov |
Step-by-Step Research Process
Step 1: Corporate Structure and Registration
Read: Company Registries Read: Tutorial — OpenCorporates company search
Start with company registration records: registered agents, officers, directors, registered address, state of incorporation, and subsidiaries. OpenCorporates aggregates filings from 140+ jurisdictions.
Step 2: Beneficial Ownership and Offshore Structures
Read: ICIJ Offshore Leaks Read: Tutorial — ICIJ Offshore Leaks search
ICIJ Offshore Leaks database covers the Panama Papers, Paradise Papers, Pandora Papers, and other major leaks. Search for entities, officers, and intermediaries connected to offshore structures.
FinCEN Beneficial Ownership Registry: The Corporate Transparency Act (2024) created a federal registry of beneficial owners. Access via fincen.gov (authorized requesters only for full database; individual reports available).
Step 3: Sanctions and Politically Exposed Persons
Read: Sanctions and PEP Databases Read: Tutorial — OpenSanctions screening
Screen companies and individuals against OpenSanctions (aggregates 200+ sanctions lists), OFAC SDN list, EU consolidated sanctions, and PEP databases.
Step 4: SEC and Financial Filings
For publicly traded US companies:
- EDGAR: sec.gov/edgar — Annual reports (10-K), quarterly reports (10-Q), insider trading (Form 4), beneficial ownership (13D/13G)
- EDGAR full-text search: efts.sec.gov — search filings by keyword
knowledgebase/investigative-tools/tool-catalog/by-category/corporate.md— additional financial data tools
Step 5: Litigation History
Read: Tutorial — PACER court records search
Federal litigation involving the company: PACER (federal courts), CourtListener (free federal court records), and state court portals for state litigation.
Step 6: Lobbying and Political Influence
Read: knowledgebase/investigative-tools/tool-catalog/by-category/lobbying.md Read: Tutorial — OpenSecrets political money
LobbyView (lobbyview.org), OpenSecrets (opensecrets.org), and the Senate/House lobbying disclosure databases. Track which legislators and officials the company lobbies and how much it donates.
Step 7: Government Contracts
Read: knowledgebase/investigative-tools/tool-catalog/by-category/procurement.md
USASpending.gov for federal contracts and grants. FPDS (Federal Procurement Data System) for detailed contract awards. State-level spending portals for state contracts.
Step 8: Conduct the Full Investigation Workflow
Read: Corporate Investigation Workflow (n8n) Read: Methodology — Corporate and Financial Investigation
The structured corporate investigation workflow: from initial target identification through entity mapping, financial tracing, and report production.
Tool Summary
Read the relevant category tool pages:
by-category/corporate.md— company data and registries- Sanctions and PEP Databases — sanctions screening
- ICIJ Offshore Leaks — leaked data sources
by-category/trade.md— import/export trade databy-category/procurement.md— government contracting
Related Role-Based Playbooks
Related Use-Case Playbooks
- Researching Conflicts of Interest — when company connects to government officials
- Researching People — when corporate officers are the focus