How the Forthsource Supplier Dossier Works

The manual dossier workflow

1. Identify the legal entity

Begin with the supplier's legal company name and any company identifier or registration document they provide. Trading names, marketplace storefronts, and sales-email signatures can differ from the legal entity that will appear on an invoice or receive payment, so the identity has to be resolved before other signals are useful.

2. Review the Qichacha source document

A contractor obtains the official Qichacha report for the Chinese company, uploads the source document, and records the defined fields. This is a manual document review, not a live or direct query by Forthsource to a government registry.

3. Review the reported company and risk fields

The dossier reports company status, legal representative, registered and paid-in capital, ownership, and defined risk-list fields. Read each field in context:

• Aligned identity details support that the named counterparty matches the source document.
• A mismatch is a reason to pause and ask the supplier for an explanation and supporting documents.
• Missing or unavailable data means there is not enough record evidence to draw a conclusion.
• A risk flag is a prompt for further review, not a certification that the supplier is safe or unsafe.

4. Decide what evidence is still missing

A record match answers a narrow identity question. Your order may still require a factory audit, samples, certification checks, a pre-shipment inspection, financial review, references, or legal advice. Those are separate checks performed by you or an appropriate independent specialist.

What the dossier does not prove

• It does not guarantee that a supplier is honest or will perform a future contract.
• It does not confirm that a factory is physically operating at a claimed location.
• It does not verify production capacity or product quality.
• It does not replace a factory audit, product inspection, sample approval, or quality control.
• It does not prove that certifications, bank instructions, product claims, or marketplace profiles are authentic.
• It is not legal, tax, sanctions, customs, or product-compliance advice.

The dossier is not a factory audit. It reports defined fields from a source document and risk screening; an audit or inspection examines different evidence.

A practical pre-payment sequence

1. Name the counterparty. Ask for the full legal company name and company identifier that should appear on the contract and invoice.
2. Review the source document. If you order a Forthsource dossier, compare the reported fields and attached Qichacha source document with the supplier's contracting details.
3. Resolve discrepancies. Do not explain away a name, address, identifier, or beneficiary mismatch without documentary evidence.
4. Confirm payment instructions independently. Check that the beneficiary is consistent with the contracting entity, and verify any last-minute account change through a known contact channel.
5. Check the operation and the product. Use independent audits, samples, inspections, and quality-control steps appropriate to the order's value and risk.
6. Use suitable commercial protections. Put specifications, acceptance criteria, remedies, and payment stages in writing before funds move.

Freshness, coverage, and inconclusive results

The current dossier is China-only. Source-document availability, fields, language, and update timing can vary. A missing result does not prove that a supplier is fraudulent, and an available record does not prove that every claim the supplier makes is true.

Any result is point-in-time evidence. Recheck close to a new contract or payment, especially when the legal name, invoice issuer, beneficiary, address, ownership details, or other material information has changed.