What our France company report includes
Our France reports draw on sources including Infogreffe (the network of commercial court registries), the INPI national company register, the BODACC (Bulletin officiel des annonces civiles et commerciales) gazette, court records, and direct in-country enquiry; fees may apply for certain records. Depth of any given section reflects what the subject company has filed and what is publicly retrievable at the time of the search. Findings are translated from French and presented in plain English.
The Banque de France's company database (FIBEN) and its associated corporate credit rating (la cotation) are confidential: they are available to banks and to the rated company itself, not as a public record.
Identity & registration
- ✓ SIREN (9-digit company identifier)
- ✓ SIRET (14-digit establishment identifier)
- ✓ Intra-community VAT number (FR + 11)
- ✓ Legal form (SAS, SA, SARL, SCI, SNC, EURL, SCS)
- ✓ Date of incorporation, NAF/APE activity code
- ✓ Status (active, en sommeil, redressement, liquidation)
People & ownership
- ✓ Président, directeur général, gérant
- ✓ Members of the Conseil d'administration or Conseil de surveillance
- ✓ Commissaire aux comptes (statutory auditor)
- ✓ Associés / actionnaires and capital social
- ✓ Group / parent / subsidiary network
Financial & trading
- ✓ Filed annual accounts (comptes annuels)
- ✓ Multi-year revenue, profit & balance-sheet trend
- ✓ Confidentiality flag (where small companies opt out of publication)
- ✓ Charges and pledges (privilèges)
- ✓ Risk indicator and calculated credit limit
Risk & public records
- ✓ BODACC procedures collectives (insolvency)
- ✓ Sauvegarde, redressement, liquidation judiciaire (safeguard, reorganisation, judicial liquidation)
- ✓ Commercial-court judgements
- ✓ Banque de France FIBEN risk indicators (where available)
Note on France data: French law allows small companies (TPE/PME below certain size thresholds) to opt for confidential filing of their accounts: the accounts are still filed at the Greffe, but not published. Where this applies, our investigated reports seek consented financial detail directly. BODACC entries on procedures collectives (sauvegarde, redressement judiciaire, liquidation judiciaire) are the most reliable insolvency signal.
Why verify a France company?
France is one of Europe's most structured corporate-information environments. Every limited entity has a SIREN identifier issued by INSEE on incorporation, a SIRET for each operating establishment, and is recorded on the Registre du Commerce et des Sociétés (RCS) held by the commercial court (Greffe du Tribunal de Commerce) for its location. Annual accounts must be filed within seven months of year end, and the BODACC publishes every significant corporate event: incorporation, capital change, director change, transfer of registered office, insolvency proceedings.
For routine credit and procurement decisions on French SAS, SA and SARL entities, a registry-based report gives a strong picture. The main caveat is the confidentiality option introduced for smaller companies: certain micro and small entities may opt to file their accounts confidentially, in which case revenue and profit detail is not publicly available even though the accounts themselves have been lodged. Where this applies, our agents can ask the company directly for financial information and, where appropriate, for trade or banking references, supplementary information the company may consent to provide or may decline, alongside Banque de France indicators where available.
Risk patterns we can identify in France reports include procedures collectives entries on BODACC (sauvegarde, redressement judiciaire, liquidation judiciaire) — France's structured insolvency-protection regime is well-developed and entries appear early; significant share-capital reductions; recent transfers of registered office that can signal a change in ownership or a winding down; multiple SIRET sites becoming inactive while the SIREN remains active; and adverse Banque de France FIBEN indicators on payment behaviour.