The Complete Guide to Company Identifiers: What They Are and How to Use Them

Why Every Business Professional Should Understand Company Identifiers

In today’s data-saturated economy, tracking companies accurately is foundational, not just for compliance, but for strategic insight. Aura Intelligence, a workforce and organizational analytics platform, uses these identifiers to unify fragmented data across sources, turning scattered profiles, job postings, and sentiment into clear market intelligence.

This guide breaks down the most important types of company identifiers, where to find them, and how to use them effectively across strategic and operational workflows.

Looking for smarter workforce or market research? Book a demo with Aura to unlock deeper, data-driven insights on companies.

What Is a Company ID Number and Why Does It Matter?

Think of a company identifier like a business’s digital fingerprint:  a unique identification number distinguishing that entity across financial, legal, and administrative systems.

Some IDs are issued by governments during company formation, while others are proprietary, generated by commercial data providers. Either way, they’re essential for everything from tax filings to workforce benchmarking. Common use cases include:

• Tax compliance and audits

• Contractual due diligence

• Financial reporting

• Workforce data integration

• Payroll and hiring infrastructure

Key Tax Identification Numbers and Employer Identification Numbers Explained

1. Employer Identification Number (EIN) Issued by the IRS, the EIN (aka Federal Tax Identification Number) is mandatory for most U.S. business entities. A new EIN is also sometimes required if there are significant business ownership or structure changes.

Used for:

• Tax reporting

• Opening bank accounts

• Managing payroll

When Do You Need a New EIN?

You need a new EIN if your business structure changes, such as forming a partnership, incorporating, or becoming a subsidiary. Sole proprietors who incorporate or take on partners also require a new EIN. Minor updates like a name or address change do not.

2. Tax Identification Number (TIN) A broader classification that includes EINs and Social Security Numbers (SSNs), depending on business type.

Used for:

• Federal and state tax obligations

• Correspondence with the IRS

3. Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) A 20-character alphanumeric code used globally to track entities involved in financial transactions.

Used for:

• Cross-border financial transactions

• Regulatory filings in capital markets

• Risk modeling and assessment

4. Business Registration Number (BRN) / Company Number Assigned at the national or state level to confirm legal incorporation, like the Company Number from Companies House in the UK. A unique registration number is essential for tax filings, licensing, and compliance with legal regulations.

Used for:

• Legal incorporation status

• Corporate structure documentation

• Verification and compliance

Proprietary Company Identifiers: Tools for Analytics and Investment

In parallel with official IDs, many commercial platforms assign their own identifiers to companies within their ecosystems. These are especially useful in workforce analytics and investment workflows, where entity resolution and data linking are crucial.

Platforms like Aura don’t just use proprietary company identifiers to organize data — they turn them into actionable insights. By tracking over 20 million companies and cross-referencing 1B+ employee profiles and 500M job postings, Aura enables users to benchmark workforce composition, identify emerging skills, and assess organizational health across peer groups.

Examples include:

• D-U-N-S Number (Dun & Bradstreet)

• Bloomberg Global ID (BBGID)

• FactSet Entity Identifier (FEI)

• Crunchbase ID

Used for:

• Competitive benchmarking

• M&A analysis

• Talent and workforce segmentation

• Market intelligence

Where to Find Company Information and Identification Numbers

1. Official Registries

• U.S.: IRS, SEC EDGAR, State business directories

• Global: GLEIF.org, Companies House (UK), Corporations Canada

These registries contain detailed information about registered companies, including financial statements and annual reports.

2. Commercial Databases

• Dun & Bradstreet, Orbis (Bureau van Dijk), PitchBook, CB Insights, Crunchbase, Bloomberg Terminal

Commercial databases provide centralized repositories of company information, crucial for accessing state identification numbers and detailed company records.

3. Open Government Portals Data.gov, EU Open Data Portal, and local equivalents offer bulk access to corporate registration data — great for high-scale analysis.

Company Identifier Formats: How to Recognize and Validate IDs

Each identifier follows its own formatting conventions — knowing them helps verify and normalize data:

• EIN: 9 digits, formatted XX-XXXXXXX

• LEI: 20 alphanumeric characters

• D-U-N-S: 9 digits

• TIN/SSN: XXX-XX-XXXX

Understanding the format of a company ID number is crucial for verifying and normalizing data.

Most are also linked to metadata like legal name, incorporation date, jurisdiction, and ownership.

How to Use Company ID and Tax ID Numbers in Business Operations

1. Workforce Analytics: Use identifiers to clean and match company records across sources when analyzing:

• Talent flows

• Hiring velocity

• Headcount data and growth trends

• Geographic and functional footprints

• Attrition benchmarking

2. Lead Generation & Sales Targeting: Company IDs help marketing and sales teams:

• Avoid duplicates in CRM

• Enrich leads with external data

• Spot signals like funding rounds or new job postings

3. Investment Research & Due Diligence: For investors and acquirers, identifiers enable:

• Mapping of parent-child corporate structures

• Peer benchmarking

• Portfolio tracking

4. Regulatory Compliance & KYC: LEIs, TINs, and EINs are essential for:

• AML and KYC checks

• Filing regulatory documents

• Maintaining audit trails

• Obtaining an EIN is essential for businesses to operate legally and comply with regulatory requirements.

How to Enrich Company Identifiers with Alternative Data

The real power comes from pairing official identifiers with alternative datasets, creating a comprehensive view of company activity. For example:

• Official: Legal structure, compliance status

• Alternative: Hiring trends, skills in demand, attrition signals

Aura stands out in this space by transforming workforce data, a traditionally messy and lagging indicator, into a high-frequency, predictive signal. Whether you're looking at attrition spikes, leadership changes, or skill gaps, Aura contextualizes official IDs with dynamic, external data.

Together, official and alternative sources fuel advanced use cases like:

• Predictive hiring models

• Organizational health scoring

• Competitive benchmarking across sectors

Of course, obtaining accurate and up-to-date company identifiers is essential for enriching datasets and improving data quality.

Evolving Trends: Why Company Identifiers Are Now Strategic Assets

Company identifiers are no longer just administrative labels;  they’ve become essential infrastructure for navigating today’s complex regulatory, workforce, and investment environments. Several key developments are accelerating their strategic importance:

• SEC Expands LEI Requirements
  In 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proposed mandatory use of Legal Entity Identifiers (LEIs) in public fund disclosures like Form 13F and Form N-CEN, supporting global efforts to standardize financial transparency and entity tracking.

• EU ESG Regulations Demand Cross-Border ID Mapping
  The European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) requires companies to tie ESG data to verifiable IDs,  including VAT numbers, LEIs, and national registration numbers,  making cross-jurisdictional identifier alignment a compliance necessity.

• AI-Powered Entity Resolution Becomes Standard
  From hiring trends to headcount changes, modern analytics platforms use AI to unify fragmented data sources. These tools rely on accurate identifiers to resolve entities across databases, job boards, filings, and sentiment signals.

• Synthetic and ESG-Centric Identifiers Are Emerging
  AI-driven platforms are now capable of generating unique synthetic identifiers for startups and private companies that have not yet been captured in official registries. New forms of IDs are also being tied to blockchain registries, ESG metrics, and skill taxonomies.

• M&A and Spinouts Multiply Identifier Complexity
  Corporate restructuring, including mergers, acquisitions, and spinouts, often result in new EINs, CIKs, or registration numbers. Analysts and investors need tools to link past and present identifiers across evolving corporate structures.

Together, these shifts illustrate why company identifiers now sit at the core of competitive intelligence and business decision-making. When connected to real-time signals like workforce sentiment, skill demand, or market activity, they unlock deeper, more actionable insight into organizational performance.

Final Thoughts: Turning Identifiers Into Intelligence

Company identifiers are the connective tissue of modern business intelligence. From workforce analytics to investment diligence, mastering these identifiers gives you a tactical edge, especially when enriched with external data sources.

If you’re using company identifiers but still struggling to make sense of organizational dynamics — from hiring patterns to leadership structure — Aura can help. Our platform transforms raw identifiers into powerful strategic signals, enabling smarter, faster business decisions.

Explore how Aura delivers deeper workforce intelligence. Book a demo today.