# details of a company



## rookie (Mar 19, 2010)

My friend from abroad has received an export order from this montreal based company. this is his first order from this company and the payment is on delivery of the products. since he has to invest in raw materials for this order, he is wondering how to find out the financial standing and track record of the company. i think this is a typical situation for any manufacturing company. since this is his first order to canada, he knocked on my door to see if i could find something out. i was wondering if there is some govt authority that would give out information about pending complaints/legal issues on private companies. whats the best way to go about it?


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## rookie (Mar 19, 2010)

i know for franchisees, they have to release a disclosure outlining all their assets and liabilities. can some sort of disclosure be requested in case of private companies? or is there some kind of insurance that he can purchase in case the company does not honour its words? what do businesses generally do in such situations?


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## Dmoney (Apr 28, 2011)

rookie said:


> i know for franchisees, they have to release a disclosure outlining all their assets and liabilities. can some sort of disclosure be requested in case of private companies? or is there some kind of insurance that he can purchase in case the company does not honour its words? what do businesses generally do in such situations?


It would probably be a question to be answered at the other end. I know for Canadian companies exporting, they can purchase Accounts Receivable insurance, which guarantees up to a certain amount (agreed upon with the provider) from default. 

Export Development Canada, Coface, Holman all do it in Canada, but you'd most likely be looking for their counterpart abroad. If you just want an idea of the Canadian company's risk, you may be able to get some kind of credit report, but again I don't know the agencies that look at Canadian companies, only those that look at foreign ones.

Also, from experience I've found that credit agencies can be extreme in their evaluations, either overstating or understating risk by huge amounts.


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