Log inGet API key
Get API key
MenuClose

COMPANYPROOF / SUPPLIER DUE DILIGENCE

Supplier due diligence. Verify the company behind the contract.

Identify the legal entity on a supplier questionnaire, contract or invoice. Compare its statements with available company records, route exceptions to the right owner and keep evidence your procurement team can revisit.

Discuss supplier verification Explore the checklist
Registry evidence REST API & MCP Claim monitoring
SUPPLIER REVIEWIllustrative example

Illustrative workflow

Confirm the contracting entity

Resolve the legal company before the wider review starts.

Legal nameMatched
RegistrationMatched
StatusActive
CompanyProof keeps the entity, fact and source context together.

THE BUSINESS QUESTION

What is supplier due diligence?

Supplier due diligence establishes which legal entity you are buying from, checks the company statements that matter to the relationship and keeps unresolved questions visible. The scope should reflect the supplier’s role, the countries involved and what a failure or incorrect payment would expose your organisation to.

CompanyProof supplies company information and claim-level evidence for that process. Resolve the contracting entity, compare supported assertions and add available ownership or financial records to the review. Your procurement policy determines the payment, security, sanctions, operational and approval controls that sit outside company evidence.

Procurement teams often use supplier and vendor interchangeably. Here, vendor due diligence means evaluating a third party you may buy from; seller-commissioned due diligence in an acquisition is a different use of the term.

A PRACTICAL CHECKLIST

A supplier due diligence checklist your team can use.

Start with the company signing the contract. Add the records and reviews that match its country, importance to your operations and the size of your exposure.

SUPPLIER EVIDENCE SCOPE BUILDER

Build an evidence scope for this supplier.

Describe the relationship. The map separates company evidence from controls your procurement, finance, security or compliance teams must own.

Relationship profile
Relationship facts
ILLUSTRATIVE SCOPE MAP

3 company-evidence areas · 1 separate control

How to evaluate the workflow ↗

Company evidence

Resolve and document these against the selected legal entity.

Separate controls

These need a different owner, source and decision rule. Your policy may add payment authority and bank-account control, security, privacy and access review, or sanctions screening.

Illustrative planning aid only. It does not verify a supplier, set a legal requirement or calculate a risk score. Your policy, jurisdiction, contract and available evidence determine the actual review.

01LEGAL IDENTITY

Are we reviewing the right company?

A trading name, a website and the legal name on an invoice may point to different entities. Use the registration number and jurisdiction to distinguish similarly named businesses before comparing any other facts.

Evidence to collect

Retain the registered name, company identifier and country alongside the supplier’s original statement.

  • Match the entity on the contract and supplier record.
  • Resolve branches, subsidiaries and trading names explicitly.
  • Ask for clarification when the match is ambiguous.
Explore identity verification
02REGISTRATION & TAX

Do the registration details agree?

Compare the supplied company status, incorporation date, legal form and VAT or tax identifier with available records. A discrepancy is a review item; it should not disappear inside an overall green status.

Evidence to collect

Preserve the claimed value, observed value, source and verification time for each supported check.

  • Check status separately from the company name.
  • Distinguish a tax identifier from a registration number.
  • Record missing fields as gaps requiring review.
See supported verification fields
03OWNERSHIP & GROUP

Who is connected to the supplier?

Shareholder, officer and group records help explain the company’s relationships. Identify whether the supplier is a subsidiary, which entity is named as its parent and where the ownership information stops.

Evidence to collect

Use available profile modules to collect relationships and their source context. A shareholder list alone does not establish a fully traced ultimate beneficial owner.

  • Keep current and historical roles distinct.
  • Preserve relationship direction and ownership percentages when returned.
  • Escalate an incomplete chain under your policy.
Review ownership and group data
04FINANCIAL EVIDENCE

Do the figures describe this entity?

The supplier may cite group turnover while a smaller subsidiary signs the contract. Compare the reporting entity, financial period, currency, units and consolidated or individual scope before relying on a figure.

Evidence to collect

Retrieve available financial records and retain the filing context with the numbers used in the assessment.

  • Compare like periods and accounting scope.
  • Distinguish filed accounts from a current forecast.
  • Keep unavailable financials visible in the review.
Explore financial records
05RISK & EXCEPTIONS

What needs another control?

Company existence does not establish delivery capability, payment safety or sanctions clearance. Combine factual company checks with your operational, security, payment and compliance reviews where the relationship requires them.

Evidence to collect

Maintain an exception list with the question, evidence needed, responsible reviewer and decision date.

  • Verify payment instructions through your separate process.
  • Review material conflicts before supplier approval.
  • Record the reason for any accepted exception.
06ONGOING MONITORING

What could change after onboarding?

A supplier record should remain useful after the first approval. Set review dates according to your policy and monitor eligible claims so a change in supporting company information can return the relationship to a reviewer.

Evidence to collect

Connect the original proof, monitored claim and subsequent change event to the same supplier record.

  • Choose which changes should reopen a review.
  • Assign an owner for alerts and scheduled checks.
  • Keep monitoring access and usage allowances in view.
See claim monitoring scope

CONNECT THE STEPS

Build verification into supplier onboarding.

Run the company checks at the point the supplier becomes a business record. Keep identity, evidence and the procurement decision connected throughout the relationship.

  1. 01

    Collect the identity

    Capture the company name, registration number where available and jurisdiction from the supplier. Keep the original questionnaire or statement so later corrections are traceable.

    OUTPUTA specific contracting entity
  2. 02

    Check the company facts

    Resolve the entity, verify supported claims and request the profile modules needed for the review. Preserve differences between returned, missing and unavailable information.

    OUTPUTClaims and source records
  3. 03

    Resolve exceptions

    Send inconsistent identities, unsupported statements and incomplete data to the responsible reviewer. Record the evidence or clarification used to resolve each item.

    OUTPUTA documented review decision
  4. 04

    Retain and revisit

    Keep the evidence with the supplier record. Combine scheduled reviews with eligible claim monitoring and route changes back into your procurement workflow.

    OUTPUTA reviewable supplier history

AUTOMATE THE EVIDENCE. KEEP THE DECISION ACCOUNTABLE.

What can supplier due diligence automation actually do?

Automate repeatable company-data requests and preserve their evidence. Keep ambiguous identities, unsupported claims and approval decisions in an explicit review policy. CompanyProof is the company-evidence layer—not a complete supplier approval or questionnaire platform.

A practical procurement checklist for your integration. These are workflow choices, not a universal legal standard or a promise of complete data.
Workflow stepCompany evidence you can retrieveReview or separate control
Resolve the supplierSearch with an identifier and country; confirm the contracting entity and retain its returned ID. Company search and profile flow →Do not silently select a namesake or substitute the parent for the subsidiary on the contract.
Compare submitted factsSend the six supported identity fields and retain each verdict, observed value and evidence. Try the sandbox contract →Define what happens to corrections and unsupported claims. A completed request is not supplier approval.
Add ownership and financial contextRetrieve available ownership/group and financial modules, preserving source and reporting context.Review incomplete ownership chains and mismatched reporting scope. These records do not create automatic ownership or financial claim verdicts.
Revisit supported claimsUse eligible claim monitoring to route confirmed changes back to a reviewer. Check monitoring scope →An unavailable recheck does not prove a change. Keep scheduled reviews for controls and facts outside monitoring scope.
Approve the relationshipBring the company evidence into your existing procurement record; retain its limitations.Your owners complete payment, signing-authority, screening, security and operational checks, then record the decision and exceptions.
A practical hand-off record →Work through beneficial ownership →Check financial statement context →Evaluate your countries and required fields →

ILLUSTRATIVE WORKED EXAMPLE

The group reports the turnover. The subsidiary signs the contract.

A supplier questionnaire says, “Our turnover is €80 million.” The contract names Northstar Services Ltd, but the supporting accounts refer to Northstar Group. First resolve the company on the contract; then compare the turnover with the correct reporting entity, period, currency, units and consolidation scope.

If the €80 million belongs to the group, retain the original statement and the observed filing context. Record a scope mismatch and ask for evidence that describes the contracting subsidiary. Do not silently relabel the group figure as subsidiary revenue.

Illustrative outcome: the legal identity can be supported while the turnover statement remains unresolved. A scope mismatch is an exception—not an automatic rejection. The procurement owner decides what clarification or approval is required.

  • Original supplier statement and questionnaire reference.
  • Selected legal entity, company identifier and jurisdiction.
  • Financial period, currency, units, reporting scope and source date.
  • Exception owner, requested clarification and decision rationale.

QUESTIONNAIRES & PROCUREMENT SYSTEMS

Turn supplier statements into checks.

A completed questionnaire is a set of assertions. A supplier may provide its incorporation year, tax number, parent company and turnover in different documents or free-text responses. Review those claims against the same legal entity instead of treating the questionnaire’s completeness as proof of accuracy.

For a first review, paste the relevant company text into CompanyProof and provide missing company or country details when asked. For repeated supplier onboarding, use the REST API to resolve the entity, obtain records and verify supported identity claims inside your existing workflow.

Keep a stable link between your supplier identifier and the selected company record. This helps prevent an updated profile, a new purchase order and an older approval from quietly referring to different entities.

Review the API workflow ↗Check company text ↗

SUPPLIER RISK ASSESSMENT

Separate the fact from the decision.

A company may be registered and active while still being unsuitable for a particular contract. Supplier risk assessment considers what the relationship exposes your business to: dependence on a single provider, interruption to service, sensitive data access or an advance payment can all change the depth of review.

CompanyProof makes company facts and evidence available to that assessment. The deterministic claim-verification endpoint covers registered name, registration number, status, incorporation date, VAT or tax ID and legal form. Ownership, officers and financials are available through relevant profile or text-research workflows where source coverage permits.

Set your review policy before using the result to automate a next step. A contradicted statement, an unavailable source and an ambiguous company match need different responses. Treat a missing ownership record as missing information, not evidence that the company has no owners.

Check field and country coverage ↗Inspect evidence records ↗

CHOOSING THE WORKFLOW

What should supplier due diligence software demonstrate?

Evaluate the countries and entity types your procurement team actually buys from. Ask for a sample containing an exact match, a namesake, an inactive entity and a missing financial or ownership module. A provider should show the selected legal identity, evidence dates, unresolved checks and what changes will reopen the supplier review.

Measure manual review time, correct matches and required-field completion on that same sample. Keep company identity, credit condition, sanctions screening, bank-account verification and signing authority as separate controls. CompanyProof supplies the documented company-data and evidence functions; agree the other controls and permitted data use for your workflow.

Company profile quickstart ↗Monitoring scope and costs ↗

MAKE THE RESULT REVIEWABLE

What belongs in the supplier evidence record?

A review becomes easier to defend and repeat when it records what was checked, against which source, and how the exception was handled.

CheckKeep with the supplier recordUse in the review
Legal identityRegistered name, registration number, jurisdiction and selected company identifier.Confirm the contracting party and prevent duplicate or incorrect matches.
Company assertionOriginal statement, field, observed value and returned verdict.Show exactly what matched or required a correction.
Source and timeSource name and link when available, retrieval time and source update date when supplied.Distinguish the time of your check from the age of the underlying record.
Ownership and financialsReturned relationships, data availability, financial period, currency and reporting scope.Make the limits of an extended review visible.
ExceptionsUnresolved question, reviewer, supporting material and decision rationale.Keep follow-up work accountable.
Ongoing reviewProof reference, monitored claims, review date and relevant change events.Reopen the right supplier review when a material fact changes.
Official company information

Over a decade collecting and structuring official company information. Assess the source and available fields for the companies you actually use.

Explore countries & sources ↗

AN ENTERPRISE EVALUATION

Evaluate the suppliers you actually buy from.

Use a representative sample across your countries, legal forms and contract types. Include difficult cases so the assessment reflects the work your team needs to complete.

01

Correct entity matches

Measure matches to the intended contracting company, including duplicates and ambiguous names.

02

Required-field coverage

Count the identity, ownership and financial fields your policy needs, by jurisdiction.

03

Review workload

Record which exceptions require an analyst, what evidence is missing and time spent resolving them.

04

Evidence completeness

Check that a reviewer can reconstruct the original claim, source, result and decision.

YOUR COUNTRIES. YOUR COMPANY FACTS.

Bring your supplier review into focus.

Share your countries, required fields and representative supplier records. We’ll help you scope company verification around your existing procurement process.

Discuss your supplier workflow ↗Compare plans and usage

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Supplier due diligence: frequently asked questions

What should a supplier due diligence checklist include?

Start with the contracting entity, registration status, relevant tax details, ownership and available financial evidence. Add the operational, payment, security and compliance checks your relationship requires. Record exceptions, the reviewer’s decision and when the supplier should be checked again.

What is the difference between supplier due diligence and supplier risk assessment?

Due diligence collects and examines information. Risk assessment uses that information to judge exposure and decide which controls or approvals are appropriate. A company verification result supplies evidence to the assessment; it does not determine your complete supplier risk policy.

Is vendor due diligence the same as supplier due diligence?

Procurement teams often use both terms for reviewing a third party before and during a buying relationship. Vendor due diligence can also mean a review commissioned by a seller in an acquisition. This page addresses supplier verification and onboarding.

How can I verify that a supplier company exists?

Use its registered name, registration number and jurisdiction to identify the legal entity. Compare available registration and status information with what the supplier provided. If several companies match, clarify the intended entity before relying on further checks.

Can CompanyProof check a supplier questionnaire?

Yes. Paste the company statements into the text checker and supply missing company or country details when requested. For recurring workflows, the API can integrate company search, profiles and supported claim checks with your onboarding process.

Can I automate supplier onboarding checks?

You can automate the company-verification part through the REST API and use returned evidence in your own review rules. Your system still determines which exceptions, approvals and additional risk checks are needed for the supplier relationship.

Does active company status mean a supplier is safe to pay?

No. Active status describes one part of the company record. It does not establish control of the bank account, the authority of the person contacting you, financial resilience or delivery capability. Apply your separate beneficiary and payment controls.

How do I check a supplier’s financial claims?

Match the claim to the correct company, financial year, currency, units and reporting scope. Available financial modules support that review. Group accounts and subsidiary accounts are different evidence, and filed accounts may not describe the supplier’s current position.

How often should suppliers be checked again?

Set review intervals according to your organisation’s risk and contract policy. Eligible claim monitoring can flag changes between scheduled reviews. Define who receives each alert and which changes require the supplier approval to be revisited.

What should we send for an enterprise evaluation?

Provide your target countries, relevant legal forms, required fields, expected volumes and a representative sample of suppliers. Include ambiguous identities and incomplete records so the evaluation measures exception handling as well as successful checks.

CONTINUE YOUR REVIEW

Claim Verification API

Connect identity checks and evidence to your onboarding systems.

Company data API

Explore financial, ownership and officer records.

Implementation workflows

See how verification fits into KYB and operational reviews.

Prepared by CompanyProof · Updated 19 October 2026