ASIC documents, document numbers and form codes

Every fact on the ASIC register got there because someone lodged a document. When a company is registered, changes a director, issues shares, files its financial report or is placed into liquidation, a prescribed form is lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and ASIC stamps it with a unique document number. The company extract is really a summary of those documents, and the document list is the audit trail behind it. For a compliance analyst, the document list is how you find out not only that a director resigned but when ASIC was told, on which form, and what the lodged pages actually say.

Document numbers

An ASIC document number is a nine-character identifier whose first character is a digit, for example 0E5123456 or 7E9901234. It is assigned when the document is received and never changes. The API accepts document numbers on GET /v1/documents/{documentNumber} (up to ten at once through GET /v1/documents?numbers[]=...) and validates the format before calling ASIC; a malformed number returns document_number_invalid and an unknown one returns document_not_found. Every record in a company or person extract that was created or changed by a document carries a sourceDocument with that document's number, so you can move from any fact to the form behind it.

Form codes and sub-forms

Each document has a formCode, the number of the prescribed ASIC form, and a formDescription. Many forms have sub-forms that identify the specific change notified; a Form 484 changing the members register carries sub-form 484E. The API returns sub-forms in subForms[]. Common forms you will meet:

ASIC's Company Alert service groups forms into categories, and the forms endpoint accepts the same categories through its category parameter: all, internal-administration, buy-backs, debt, deregistration, disclosure-notices, financial, fundraising, takeovers-short and takeovers-all. Only one category can be requested per call.

The three dates on a document

The gap between receipt and processing matters. Register extracts on ASIC's professional registers carry a disclaimer when unprocessed documents exist, and a company's office holder list may lag a lodged Form 484 by a few days.

Page counts, images and requisitions

pageCount is the number of pages in ASIC's image of the document. When it is zero the document is not currently retrievable from ASIC's imaging system and the API sets imaged to false; ordering an image then fails with document_not_imaged. underRequisition is true when ASIC has asked the lodging party to correct or complete the document; treat requisitioned documents as provisional.

Financial reports and XBRL

Companies that lodge financial reports (Form 388) may attach the financial data in XBRL format. The document list flags this with xbrlAvailable: true and, where ASIC supplies it, xbrlDocumentNumber gives the number of the XBRL attachment. XBRL files cannot be ordered separately; they are delivered as an additional file with the original document image.

Document qualifiers

Annual returns and financial reports are qualified with the year they relate to. A sourceDocument of { "documentNumber": "0E5123456", "qualifier": "AR 2019" } means the record was last changed by the 2019 annual return, while "FR 2019" denotes the 2019 financial report. Qualifiers appear on the document itself as well as on the records it changed.

Pre-ASIC state documents

Companies incorporated before ASIC's national register began in 1991 were registered with a state or territory corporate affairs office. ASIC holds only a skeletal record of documents lodged under that earlier system: the state, the received date, the old form code and a status, with no document number and no image. GET /v1/companies/{id}/documents returns them separately in preAsicDocuments[], and the company's previousStateNumber links back to the state registration.

Company and person document lists

GET /v1/companies/{id}/documents lists every document lodged by or about a company, filterable by from and to dates or by a number of years, and by formCode. Documents in a company list also carry status (ASIC's form status code) and priced (whether an image of the document attracts a fee). The company document list is free and needs no extract; it is also included in the documents key of any company extract you purchase. The equivalent for a person is GET /v1/people/{personId}/documents, which reads from a purchased person extract and returns extract_required (HTTP 402) until you hold one. Both are ordered newest first and paginated with cursor.

Looking up a single document

curl https://api.asicapi.dev/v1/documents/0E5123456 \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ASICAPI_KEY"

{
  "object": "document",
  "documentNumber": "0E5123456",
  "formCode": "484",
  "formDescription": "Change to company details",
  "subForms": [{ "code": "484E", "description": "Change to members register" }],
  "receivedAt": "2024-05-01",
  "processedAt": "2024-05-03",
  "effectiveAt": "2024-04-30",
  "qualifier": null,
  "pageCount": 4,
  "imaged": true,
  "underRequisition": false,
  "xbrlAvailable": false,
  "xbrlDocumentNumber": null,
  "status": null,
  "priced": null,
  "company": {
    "acn": "004085616",
    "formatted": "004 085 616",
    "numberType": { "code": "ACN", "label": "Australian Company Number" },
    "name": "ACME WIDGETS PTY LTD",
    "type": { "code": "APTY", "label": "Australian Proprietary Company" },
    "status": { "code": "REGD", "label": "Registered" },
    "abn": "53004085616",
    "registeredCharity": false
  },
  "relatedParties": [
    {
      "type": "person",
      "person": { "familyName": "SMITH", "givenNames": ["JANE", "LOUISE"], "formatted": "JANE LOUISE SMITH" },
      "birth": null,
      "organisation": null
    }
  ],
  "meta": { "billable": false, "product": null, "requestId": "req_01J9D4Q7S1M9Z2" }
}

relatedParties[] lists the people and organisations ASIC has indexed against the document, which is how a person's document list is built. Document details and document lists are free lookups with meta.billable: false; only the image is a paid product.

Ordering a document image

Document images are PDF copies of the lodged pages and attract an ASIC fee. Unlike an extract, an image is produced by ASIC's imaging system after the request, so it is an asynchronous order rather than a synchronous purchase. You are billed when the order is accepted, not when you download. The flow is described in full in the purchasing guide:

{
  "object": "order",
  "id": "ord_01J9D5R2T6K3W8",
  "type": "document_image",
  "status": "ready",
  "documents": [{ "documentNumber": "0E5123456", "pageCount": 4 }],
  "delivery": { "method": "web", "email": null },
  "downloadUrl": "https://api.asicapi.dev/v1/orders/ord_01J9D5R2T6K3W8/download",
  "asicRequestIds": ["883920011"],
  "createdAt": "2026-09-01T03:12:44Z",
  "readyAt": "2026-09-01T03:13:09Z"
}

Delivery limits follow ASIC's rules: email delivery is available up to 50 pages, web delivery up to 500 pages, and anything larger must be posted (method: "post" with recipient and address details). Requesting a page range outside the document returns page_range_invalid, and an oversize order returns document_too_large_for_delivery. Where a Form 902 supplementary document has been lodged against the document you ordered, ASIC includes the supplementary pages automatically at no extra charge. In the sandbox, images are available only for ASIC's sample company 009 136 109.