Resources · Glossary
The diligence glossary, in plain English.
Plain-English definitions of the terms behind company due diligence, sanctions screening, ownership, filings and trigger-based selling.
About this section
34 terms you meet when checking companies and founders or prospecting from public records — each with a short definition first, then why it matters and how MarketPrior uses it.
Definitions describe the general concept; the “How MarketPrior uses it” part of each page describes the product as it works today.
Method & analysis
source citation
Cited evidence (evidence ledger)
An evidence ledger is the numbered list of those findings.
Read →corporate due diligence
Company due diligence
Due diligence ranges from a quick screen to months of work with lawyers and accountants.
Read →record linkage
Entity resolution
Names are ambiguous and formatted differently in every source.
Read →founder due diligence
Founder background check
For an early-stage company, the founders often are the company: there may be little revenue or filing history, but each founder has a track record in registers, courts and the press.
Read →calibration
Model calibration (AUC, Brier score)
AUC ranges from 0.5 (no better than chance) to 1.0 (perfect ranking).
Read →rolling backtest
Out-of-time backtest
Random train/test splits leak information from the future into training and flatter a model.
Read →fused scorecard
Risk × upside verdict
Risk and upside are scored separately because they are different questions: a company can be both exciting and dangerous.
Read →Screening & risk
negative news screening
Adverse media screening
News often reports problems before formal records do.
Read →disqualified directors register
Director disqualification
Disqualification is made under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986.
Read →administration
Insolvency proceedings
Insolvency events are published by registers and official gazettes: the London Gazette and Companies House in the UK, BODACC in France, the Brønnøysund register in Norway and the Lithuanian register.
Read →court records search
Litigation search
Being in court is normal business: companies sue to collect debts and enforce contracts.
Read →PEP
Politically exposed person (PEP)
The concept comes from anti-money-laundering standards set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
Read →match tiers
Sanctions false positives
Common names, transliterations and partial matches all generate hits.
Read →sanctions check
Sanctions screening
Sanctions lists name people, companies, vessels and organisations subject to asset freezes and trade restrictions.
Read →Ownership & identity
ultimate beneficial owner
Beneficial ownership
Legal ownership can sit with holding companies, trusts or nominees.
Read →LEI
Legal Entity Identifier (LEI)
Level 1 LEI data answers “who is who”: legal name, registered address, registration authority and number, and status.
Read →PSC register
Persons with significant control (PSC)
The PSC regime started in 2016 and is the UK’s public beneficial-ownership register.
Read →13D filing
Schedule 13D and 13G
The filings name the holder, the size of the stake and, on a 13D, the purpose of the acquisition — for example an intention to seek board seats or influence strategy.
Read →Registers & filings
Bulletin officiel des annonces civiles et commerciales
BODACC
BODACC notices exist so that third parties — creditors in particular — can learn of legal events affecting a business.
Read →UK company register
Companies House
Most of the register is free to search and available through a public REST API and a streaming API that pushes changes as they happen, plus monthly bulk snapshots.
Read →European Single Electronic Format
ESEF
ESEF applies to financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2020, with some member states allowing a one-year delay.
Read →company charge
Registered charge
Each charge record names the persons entitled (typically the lender), a brief description and whether the charge is outstanding or satisfied.
Read →Reg D
Regulation D
Most US venture and private-company rounds rely on Rule 506.
Read →EDGAR
SEC EDGAR
EDGAR holds annual and quarterly reports, current reports (8-K), ownership reports, insider transactions, private-offering notices (Form D) and more.
Read →Form D filing
SEC Form D
A Form D lists the issuer, its related persons (executive officers, directors and promoters), the exemption claimed, the total offering amount, the amount sold, the number of investors and the industry group.
Read →insider filings
SEC Forms 3, 4 and 5
Insider filings show who the insiders are and when they buy or sell.
Read →SIREN number
SIRENE, SIREN and SIRET
SIRENE records each unit’s legal form, main activity (NAF code), address, creation date and status.
Read →UEI
Unique Entity ID (UEI)
UEIs appear on federal awards in USASpending.gov and on entity registrations in SAM.gov, which makes them a reliable way to tie a contract to the right company.
Read →XBRL
XBRL and iXBRL
The SEC requires XBRL tagging of financial statements in periodic reports and publishes the tagged figures as “company facts”.
Read →Sales & prospecting
intent score
Buying-intent signals
Signals differ in strength and freshness.
Read →ICP
Ideal customer profile (ICP)
An ICP is about companies; a buyer persona is about the people inside them.
Read →NAICS code
Industry classification codes (NAICS, NACE, NAF, SIC)
NAICS codes have up to six digits, with each extra digit narrowing the industry.
Read →trigger event
Sales trigger event
Timing is the point: a company that just raised or just hired a new leader is reviewing suppliers, while the same company a year later may have locked them in.
Read →Run cited diligence on your next company.
Name a company or founder and get a risk × upside verdict where every finding links to its source document.