This document presents selected results of GAO’s Web-based Survey of State Officials Responsible for Company Formations. The purpose of this survey was to collect information on the process for forming a corporation or limited liability company in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia and the kinds of information states collect during this process. We also asked state officials about the number of companies formed in their state and their opinions on the benefits and costs of filing company formation and periodic reporting documents electronically and collecting additional information. We sent this survey to the directors of the divisions in secretary of state offices (or their equivalents) that are responsible for company formations in each state. We received 51 completed surveys for a response rate of 100 percent.

A more detailed discussion of our scope and methodology is contained in our report Company Formations: Minimal Ownership Information Is Collected and Available GAO-06-376 (Washington, D.C.: April 7, 2006). We administered this survey from October 2005 to February 2006 in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards.

Instructions for Viewing this Survey

How to View The Survey

• This site provides a copy of the survey instrument and links to responses for each question. Below is information that will help you understand how this site is constructed.
• Click on the Table of Contents link located in the lower right of this screen. To read to the bottom of the screen, you may need to use your scroll bar on the right side of this screen.
• The first screen in the survey is an introduction and general information that was sent to and viewed by recipients of the survey. There are no survey results to view on this screen. This screen is for information only and you may by-pass it by clicking on Next located at the bottom of the screen in the lower right.
• The survey may have links to allow respondents to bypass inapplicable questions (skip patterns). While these were active links during the data collection period, they have now been disabled. These will be reported as "skipped".
• Whenever respondents failed to respond to a question (other than a skip), we treated it as a "No Response" and combined these numbers with those who checked "No Response" for reporting.
• When respondents wrote a narrative response to a question, we sometimes present the number of respondents making a comment, but do no show the actual comments.

How to View the Responses for Each Question

• To view the responses to each question, click on the question number (Links to survey questions will look like this: 1., etc.).
• After viewing the responses to each question, click on the "x" in the upper right corner of your screen to close that window and return to the questionnaire.

How to Return to a Page That You Previously Visited

• To return to the last screen you viewed, click the Previous button on the lower right corner of the screen.
• Click the Next button to advance to the next screen.

How to Make the Font Larger on Your Screen

• You can make the font larger by changing your browser setting. For example, on Internet Explorer you can change the font size by going to View and selecting Text Size.