Getting information on any business is a lot simpler than it used to be. In the old days, company directors kept schtumm about the inner working of the corporation they represented. These days it is essential that certain information is openly available for scrutiny so that anyone else can clearly see what they do, how many folk they employ, profits and losses, current board of directors and their backgrounds etc. Before even those details are logged in, the small matter of company address, trading names, contact email and telephone numbers etc need to be clearly shown on the company registers. For more details about a publicly held company, in the US, the securities and exchange commission holds an enrmous cache of very useful information that can be tapped into. A company, often abbreviated to co., is a legal entity which represents an association of legal people whether by choice and design, or enforced for legal reasons, or a mixture of both. Companies take various formats too. Voluntary associations, including non profit organisations, need to be registered as a company and be run in a fully open and legal way with no hidden accounts in the background. Business entities are listed as generators of sales and revenue and ultimately, profit. Then we have the massive money makers – the banks and financial institutions. These are also listed as companies, as are myriad educational institutions which generate millions of pounds but also have seriously hefty costs in running such a massive undertaking.