What is a Company Profile?

Company profiles are reports that provide an overview of the history, current status, and future goals of a business. Such a profile can be as short as a single page, or contain enough data to fill several pages. While there are a number of different formats that businesses use to create these profiles, a few types of information are considered essential.

With just about any type of company profile report, contact information is included. The contact information may be nothing more than the physical and mailing addresses for the corporation headquarters, or it may include the names and mail drops of specific officers and executives employed with the company. It is not unusual for a telephone and fax number to be included in this basic contact data. In recent years, the inclusion of at least a general information email address is also considered essential for any profile of a company.

Along with contact information, the company profile usually includes some historical background on the business. This includes data on when the company was formed, the names of the founders, and how the company fared in its earliest days. Often, the historical narrative continues on to the present day. While not an exhaustive history, it is often enough to give the reader a sense of how the company has grown over the years.

It is not unusual for a profile of a company to include at least some general statistics relating to the current status of the business. This can include information such as the number of plants, offices, or other operations that the company current owns. Often, the total number of employees is mentioned, along with rounded figures about revenue generated during the latest fiscal year.

The company profile can also include data regarding the future plans of the business. A profile may discuss plans for future expansion in terms of locations, new products or services that are anticipated to be offered in the near future, or plans to restructure the operation as part of the strategy for ensuring the continued success of the business. However, a company profile is not likely to include information on any plans that have not been discussed and approved by shareholders and other leaders in the company. All the data found in a company profile is considered to be in the public domain, and freely available to anyone.

Most companies update their profiles at least once a year. This is important, since officers can retire or choose to leave the business, or locations can open and close over a period of several months. By keeping the data, the profile can be utilized by people who are considering purchasing stock issued by the company or possibly considering employment with the business.