Corporation Annual Reports, 1997-2006

What information can I find in this collection?

Information contained on corporation annual reports varies depending on when the report was filed and may include the corporation’s name, registered address, officers, amount of stock authorized or outstanding, assets, and liabilities. Beginning in 1996, corporations could report that no changes occurred in the previous year without completing a full report, so you may need to review reports from multiple years. This collection includes only corporation annual reports. Other types of filings are available on the business entity search hosted by the Corporations Division of the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. Fields included on the corporation annual reports include:

How do I search this collection?

You can search annual reports by the corporation’s name, entity ID number, report year, or a combination of the three. Please note that entity IDs changed to a different numbering system in 2017 and the records available here use the original six-digit ID numbers.

How do I browse this collection?

You can browse this collection by year, then alphabetically by corporation name.

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What’s the story behind this collection?

The State of Michigan requires corporations to register and send yearly reports to the state. The Corporations Division facilitates the registration of new and renewed or restored business entities in Michigan, as part of the Corporations, Securities and Commercial Licensing Bureau in the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. This division accepts the filings of required documents that allow companies to register and operate as corporations or limited liability companies. The content and requirements of these reports has changed over time, as has the agency responsible for collecting them. Below is a short history of this government function:

• 1846: Public Act 148 of this year required mining companies to file annual reports with the Secretary of State. Companies had to indicate the names of shareholders, their places of residence, and the number of shares owned by each.
• 1881: Public Act 80 of 1881 established reporting requirements for charitable societies. Annual reports filed with the Secretary of State included the name of the organization, reason for organization, names of trustees and officers, description and value of real estate owned, and value of any investments made by the charity.
• 1885: Manufacturing and mercantile corporations were required to file annual reports by Public Act 232. Reports included the amount of capital stock, amount invested in real estate and personal estates, debts and credits of the corporation, and the names of stockholders and number of shares each held.
• 1903: Public Act 232 of this year provided for incorporation of companies outside of manufacturing and mercantile. It also required annual reports to include names and addresses of members of the board of directors, when applicable.
• 1921: Public Act 84 specified that the annual report requirement didn’t apply to entities regulated by the Insurance Department, Banking Department, or the Public Utilities Commission.
• 1935: The Corporations and Securities Commission was created by Public Act 13. The Secretary of State’s duties and records related to corporations were transferred to this new commission. Public Act 194 reversed some of the requirements of 1931’s Public Act 327 and went back to requiring nonprofit corporations to file reports annually.
• 1965: The Executive Reorganization Act transferred responsibility for corporation filings to the Department of Licensing and Regulation.
• 1972: Responsibility for corporation filings was transferred to the Department of Commerce.
• 2003: Executive Order 2003-18 transferred responsibility for corporation filings to the Department of Labor and Economic Growth.
• 2011: Executive Order 2011-4 transferred responsibility for corporation filings to the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs.

Corporation annual reports from 1997-2006 are available in the archives’ digital collections. Earlier reports can be requested from the Archives of Michigan reference staff or viewed in the archives reading room. Records from 2007 to the present are held by the Corporations Division of the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs.