Kubr Research · Last reviewed 14 October 2026

Checking an Australian Company: ASIC & PPSR

What the ASIC register and the PPSR show about an Australian company, and the records they leave out.

Australia has a national company register, run by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), and a national register of security interests in personal property, the PPSR. Together they answer most of the registry questions about a private company: who it is, who runs it, and who has a claim over its assets. This article walks through both, and the court records that sit alongside them.

Step 1: the ASIC company register

Every Australian company has an Australian Company Number (ACN), and many also have an Australian Business Number (ABN). Start with the ACN, because names can be close and former names are common. ASIC provides searches of its registers, and a company extract can be obtained for a fee. A current and historical extract typically shows:

• Status. Registered, deregistered, or under external administration. A company in liquidation or administration needs a different conversation from one that is trading normally.
• Class and type. Proprietary company limited by shares, public company, and so on. Proprietary companies are further split into small and large, which affects what must be filed.
• Registered office and principal place of business. Compare with the address in the pitch.
• Officeholders. Directors and secretaries, with appointment and cessation dates.
• Members and share structure. Shareholders and share classes, as lodged with ASIC. The register shows the position as notified, which may lag a recent transfer.
• Documents lodged. Annual statements, change notices and, for companies that must lodge them, financial reports.

Many small proprietary companies are not required to lodge financial reports, so a register search often returns no accounts. That is normal. Where the company says its accounts are lodged, ask which year and request a copy.

Step 2: read the history, not just the current page

Look at how the company has changed. Frequent changes of directors, of registered office or of name, or a late lodgement, are prompts for questions. A director who is also an officeholder of a company that was deregistered or placed in external administration is a question to put to the company with the facts, not a finding.

Step 3: the PPSR

Since the Personal Property Securities Act reforms, most security interests in personal property are recorded on the Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR), which is a single national register. It covers a wide range of collateral, from vehicles and equipment to receivables and inventory, and it is how a lender records its claim over the assets of a business.

For a company, search by the grantor’s ACN or exact name. A registration generally shows:

• The secured party. The lender or supplier that holds the interest. Compare with the debts the company has disclosed.
• The collateral. Described by class, such as all present and after-acquired property, or by serial number for items like motor vehicles.
• Registration dates and end time. A registration has a stated duration; one that has expired may no longer protect the lender, and a continuing registration shows an interest still claimed.

Not every registration indicates a loan. Equipment finance, retention-of-title supply terms and leases can all appear, so a long list is not by itself unusual. The useful comparison is between the registrations and the company’s own account of its borrowings and supplier arrangements. A registration by a secured party the company did not mention, or over “all assets”, is worth a direct question.

Step 4: insolvency and court records

ASIC publishes notices of external administration and related insolvency events, and the register extract will show the company’s status. For litigation, there is no single national index. Federal courts, state and territory Supreme and lower courts, and tribunals each publish their own records and have their own rules on access and on what is shown. A complete search covers the courts relevant to where the company is based and operates, and the directors as well as the company. As with any court search, a result is a lead until it is matched to the right entity by ACN, address or officeholders.

A worked example, described generally

A borrower states that its only secured lender is one bank. The ASIC extract shows a live proprietary company with two directors, one appointed recently. The PPSR search by ACN returns the bank’s registration over all present and after-acquired property, and a second registration by an equipment financier over specific machinery. The second is not necessarily a problem: equipment finance is common. But it is a fact the borrower did not mention, and it may rank differently from the bank’s claim over the same assets. The reviewer lists both registrations, asks the borrower for the equipment finance agreement and the outstanding balance, and records the answer. The director appointed recently is checked for other officeholdings and the date of appointment is compared with the date of the loan application.

What these records do not show

• Trading performance. Revenue, cash and tax position are not on the registers. Kubr compares these with the company’s own figures only with its consent.
• Whether a lodged figure is right. The register records what was filed.
• Informal arrangements. Unregistered security, guarantees and understandings may not appear anywhere.

Putting it together

A workable order is ASIC extract, officeholder history, PPSR search by grantor, insolvency notices, then court searches. Record the date and time of each search, because both registers change daily. Our Australia page explains how this fits into a Kubr review, the services page lists what is covered, and the illustrative sample report outline shows how findings are laid out.

Sources

Primary registries and regulators referred to in this article:

• Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)
• ASIC: search ASIC registers
• Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR)