D&B Business Information Reports (BIR) provide a snapshot of the current situation of a company and, via predictive Indicators, an outlook on future risk.

A BIR will normally give sufficient up-to-date information about the trading activities and financial viability of the company concerned to help a customer make an informed decision about the terms on which they should do business.

The Business Information Report is underpinned by D&B’s DUNSRight process of collecting and enhancing data to ensure the quality, accuracy and completeness of our information.

The data content and depth of the records differs from country to country and mainly depends on data availability in the respective market.

The type of entity also influences the data depth. There are legal forms for which almost no data is publically available while bigger companies tend to publish more data.

• General Business Information
• Contact details, Line of Business, Export & Import details, Company History, etc.
• Financials, where available
• Management Details
• Shareholding Patterns
• Corporate Linkages (Affiliates/ Associates/ Subsidiary/ Parent/ Ultimate Parent)

The D&B Rating in SAME and Africa consists of two parts, Financial Strength Indicator & Credit Appraisal, e.g. 5A3:

• Financial Strength is an indication of the tangible net worth. (5A)
• Credit Appraisal (3) is linked to the level of risk and is an overall evaluation of credit worthiness. It takes into account the financial condition and several factors such as trade reference history, legal structure, management experience and any adverse listings.

Business Information Report

• Perform credit risk assessments of existing and potential customers.
  
  
• Benefit from D&B’s predictive indicators and determine the risk of delinquent payment.
  
  
• Assess overall financial condition.
  
  
• Assess the legitimacy of international customers.