The document discusses the increasing complexity and opacity of corporate structures and the urgent need for transparent access to company data in order to enhance accountability and governance. It highlights the disparity in access to critical public data and the systemic issues arising from a lack of understanding, which can lead to problems like pollution exporting and corporate malpractice. The author advocates for initiatives such as OpenCorporates that aim to create an openly licensed database of corporate entities to improve visibility and oversight in the corporate world.

1. The closed world of
company data
And why we need to open it up

2. We live in a corporate world
...but much of it is invisible to us
(citizens, journalists, NGOs, regulators,
governments, SMEs, etc...)

5. Companies no
longer look like this

6. Companies no
longer look like this

7. Companies no
longer look like this
nor even like this

9. But
like
this

10. But
like
this
or like this

11. But
like
this
or like this

12. And they are more complex
by the day

13. And they are more complex
by the day
Growing in scale – not 10s of legal entities but 1000s

14. And they are more complex
by the day
Growing in scale – not 10s of legal entities but 1000s
Growing in speed – we are seeing the beginnings of
high-frequency company formation

15. And they are more complex
by the day
Growing in scale – not 10s of legal entities but 1000s
Growing in speed – we are seeing the beginnings of
high-frequency company formation
Growing in opacity – use of secrecy jurisdictions and
off-register entities to provide firewalls to tax, regulation,
information

16. And they are more complex
by the day
Growing in scale – not 10s of legal entities but 1000s
Growing in speed – we are seeing the beginnings of
high-frequency company formation
Growing in opacity – use of secrecy jurisdictions and
off-register entities to provide firewalls to tax, regulation,
information
Growing in complexity – not a hierarchy but a complex,
sometimes even circular network of entities

17. Getting the data matters
In the 21st century, data is power
We’ve always been governed by data, now our lives
are data
Huge asymmetry of access to public data
Sold and collected to enrich global proprietary
databases, denied to citizens

18. Information is the currency
of democracy
Thomas Jefferson

19. ATA is the currency
Information
D
of democracy
Thomas Jefferson

20. This matters
No understanding = no control

21. This matters
No understanding = no control
Leads to systematic problems – Lehman’s, pollution
exporting, market failures, etc

22. This matters
No understanding = no control
Leads to systematic problems – Lehman’s, pollution
exporting, market failures, etc
Reduces accountability and corporate governance.
Enables and encourages companies to behave like bad
corporate citizens

23. This matters
No understanding = no control
Leads to systematic problems – Lehman’s, pollution
exporting, market failures, etc
Reduces accountability and corporate governance.
Enables and encourages companies to behave like bad
corporate citizens
Enables of money laundering, organised crime and
corruption (see World Bank Puppet Masters report)

24. This matters
No understanding = no control
Leads to systematic problems – Lehman’s, pollution
exporting, market failures, etc
Reduces accountability and corporate governance.
Enables and encourages companies to behave like bad
corporate citizens
Enables of money laundering, organised crime and
corruption (see World Bank Puppet Masters report)
Remember, companies are artificial entities given legal
personality by the state for the good of society

25. ...as recognised by the Open
Government Partnership
5 Grand Goals
1.Improving Public Services
2.Increasing Public Integrity
3.More Effectively Managing Public Resources
4.Creating Safer Communities
5.Increasing Corporate Accountability

26. So how do the OGP
countries score for access
to company data?

27. So how do the OGP
countries score for access
FA
to company IL! data?

28. 4 key measures

29. 4 key measures
Basic search: can you search the company register
freely, without charge and without registration
Licence: Is there a licence that allows open reuse of
the information
Data: Is the information available as open data as a
data dump or an API
Depth: Is there sufficient information to get a true
picture of the company and those who control it –
directors, significant shareholdings, and statutory filings

30. The results were not good...

31. The results were not good...

32. For US we took a straight average of the
state registers (possibly overstates access)

33. On corporate confidentiality
& competitive advantage

34. On corporate confidentiality
& competitive advantage
No good reason why a corporate hierarchy should not
be public

35. On corporate confidentiality
& competitive advantage
No good reason why a corporate hierarchy should not
be public
Competitive advantage should be about new products
and services, innovation, risking capital, not devising
complex corporate networks that encourage
companies to evade regulation, tax, scrutiny

36. On corporate confidentiality
& competitive advantage
No good reason why a corporate hierarchy should not
be public
Competitive advantage should be about new products
and services, innovation, risking capital, not devising
complex corporate networks that encourage
companies to evade regulation, tax, scrutiny
Disproportionally benefits big incumbents, thus stifling
competition and innovation

37. On corporate confidentiality
& competitive advantage
No good reason why a corporate hierarchy should not
be public
Competitive advantage should be about new products
and services, innovation, risking capital, not devising
complex corporate networks that encourage
companies to evade regulation, tax, scrutiny
Disproportionally benefits big incumbents, thus stifling
competition and innovation
Disadvantages those companies that want to be good
corporate citizens, forcing a race to the bottom

38. What is OpenCorporates?
A simple (huge)
goal: build an
openly licensed
database with
an entry (and
URI) for every
corporate legal
entity in the
world

39. What is OpenCorporates?
A simple (huge)
goal: build an
openly licensed
database with
an entry (and
URI) for every
dict ions
corporate legal
n 52 juris ates
entity in the
anies i 22 US st
world n co mp clud ing
0m illio In
w ov er 4
No

44. 5 core uses

45. 1. An open identifying system

46. 1. An open identifying system
URIs can be used as common identifiers among a
variety of organisations
Can be used without reference to OpenCorporates
Because they map to the id issued by the company
register the corresponding entry in the registry (and
associated info) can be found, and vice versa
Fits the new W3c/EU Business Vocabulary
Can even by used for companies in jurisdiction we
haven’t yet imported

47. 2. The simple search

48. 2. The simple search
Not to be underestimated

49. 2. The simple search
Not to be underestimated

50. 2. The simple search
Not to be underestimated
Massively reduces friction
(how long will it take you
to find and search
multiple jurisdictions)

51. 2. The simple search
Not to be underestimated
Massively reduces friction
(how long will it take you
to find and search
multiple jurisdictions)

52. 2. The simple search
Not to be underestimated
Massively reduces friction
(how long will it take you
to find and search
multiple jurisdictions)
Allows what if questions

53. 2. The simple search
Not to be underestimated
Massively reduces friction
(how long will it take you
to find and search
multiple jurisdictions)
Allows what if questions
Potentially generates
stories in its own right

54. 2. The simple search
Not to be underestimated
Massively reduces friction
(how long will it take you
to find and search
multiple jurisdictions)
Allows what if questions
Potentially generates
stories in its own right

55. 3. Source for additional info

56. 3. Source for additional info
Addresses, filings,
status, websites...

57. 3. Source for additional info
Addresses, filings,
status, websites...

58. 3. Source for additional info
Addresses, filings,
status, websites...
Intl trademarks, UK
govt spending, official
notices, health & safety
violations...

59. 3. Source for additional info
Addresses, filings,
status, websites...
Intl trademarks, UK
govt spending, official
notices, health & safety
violations...

60. 3. Source for additional info
Addresses, filings,
status, websites...
Intl trademarks, UK
govt spending, official
notices, health & safety
violations...
Other IDs: SEC, CAGE,
etc – allows reverse
mapping queries, e.g.
show me legal entity
mapped to a CIK code

61. 4. Reconciliation
(matching names to legal
Clean up messy
company names
(& prev names)
to legal entity,
and from there
to other data
Google Refine
reconciliation
service (specific
to jurisdiction)

62. 5. The platform
API: allows all
information to be
retrieved as data,
even searches
Users can now
add data too
Coming soon: the
option to match
data to
companies

63. 5. The platform
API: allows all
information to be
retrieved as data,
even searches
Users can now
add data too
Coming soon: the
option to match
data to
companies

64. 5. The platform
API: allows all
information to be
retrieved as data,
even searches
Users can now
add data too
Coming soon: the
option to match
data to
companies

65. 5. The platform
API: allows all
information to be
retrieved as data,
even searches
Users can now
add data too
Coming soon: the
option to match
data to
companies

66. 5. The platform
API: allows all
information to be
retrieved as data,
even searches
Users can now
add data too
Coming soon: the
option to match
data to
companies

67. How have we done it?

68. How have we done it?
Co-operation – we get data direct from some company
registers (UK, NZ, a few US), and are working with
international institutions (EC, W3c, Financial Stability
Board, etc) to improve visibility and reuse of company info

69. How have we done it?
Co-operation – we get data direct from some company
registers (UK, NZ, a few US), and are working with
international institutions (EC, W3c, Financial Stability
Board, etc) to improve visibility and reuse of company info
Community – a lot of the data has been contributed by
the open data community (thanks, ScraperWiki)

70. How have we done it?
Co-operation – we get data direct from some company
registers (UK, NZ, a few US), and are working with
international institutions (EC, W3c, Financial Stability
Board, etc) to improve visibility and reuse of company info
Community – a lot of the data has been contributed by
the open data community (thanks, ScraperWiki)
Cool open-source software (100% open source
platform/tools)

71. How have we done it?
Co-operation – we get data direct from some company
registers (UK, NZ, a few US), and are working with
international institutions (EC, W3c, Financial Stability
Board, etc) to improve visibility and reuse of company info
Community – a lot of the data has been contributed by
the open data community (thanks, ScraperWiki)
Cool open-source software (100% open source
platform/tools)
Colossal scraping (100,000s of pages/API calls per day)

72. Problems (& solutions)

73. Problems (& solutions)
Company registers consider themselves businesses,
not public registers – sometimes block access

74. Problems (& solutions)
Company registers consider themselves businesses,
not public registers – sometimes block access
Slow, poorly designed company register websites (and
sometimes they don’t even exist – and not just in
developing countries)

75. Problems (& solutions)
Company registers consider themselves businesses,
not public registers – sometimes block access
Slow, poorly designed company register websites (and
sometimes they don’t even exist – and not just in
developing countries)
Understanding global data

76. Problems (& solutions)
Company registers consider themselves businesses,
not public registers – sometimes block access
Slow, poorly designed company register websites (and
sometimes they don’t even exist – and not just in
developing countries)
Understanding global data
International/national jurisdictions

77. Problems (& solutions)
Company registers consider themselves businesses,
not public registers – sometimes block access
Slow, poorly designed company register websites (and
sometimes they don’t even exist – and not just in
developing countries)
Understanding global data
International/national jurisdictions
Big-data problems – ETL, scaling, etc

78. Problems (& solutions)
Company registers consider themselves businesses,
not public registers – sometimes block access
Slow, poorly designed company register websites h elp
to (and
ow ant in
developing countries) le
op wh
sometimes they don’t even exist – and not just
pe
ing global data
F nd
iUnderstanding
International/national jurisdictions
Big-data problems – ETL, scaling, etc

79. What next?

80. What next?
Recently started adding company directors and officers

81. What next?
Recently started adding company directors and officers
More public data – political donations, lobbyists, other
ID systems

82. What next?
Recently started adding company directors and officers
More public data – political donations, lobbyists, other
ID systems
Relationships between corporate entities

83. What next?
Recently started adding company directors and officers
More public data – political donations, lobbyists, other
ID systems
Relationships between corporate entities
More options for community to add/curate data