COLUMBUS, Ohio – Secretary of State Jon Husted today announced that 7,505 new entities filed to do business in Ohio in January 2015. These numbers are down slightly compared to January 2014, in which 7,780 new entities filed. Additionally, Secretary Husted announced that the percentage of business filings being approved has increased as rejection rates have dropped 6.6 percent over the last three years – down from 19.3 percent in January 2012 to 12.7 percent in January 2015.
The most common reasons for rejection are due to paperwork errors. To address this issue, the Secretary of State’s office has simplified the forms to make them more user-friendly and improved the filing process so it is clear as to what information is required. Secretary Husted’s efforts have resulted is an increase in the number of filings approved and decrease in those rejected.
Recently Secretary Husted announced that the state experienced the fifth consecutive year of record new business filings. In 2014, 93,775 new businesses filed with the Secretary of State’s Office. These numbers were up from 2013, in which 89,735 filed. Secretary Husted hopes this positive trend will continue in the years ahead.
A significant factor in the continuous growth of new business filings in Ohio is Secretary Husted’s commitment to providing quality customer service and the expansion of services offered by the office. In October 2013, Secretary Husted launched Ohio Business Central, allowing businesses to file some of the most commonly-used forms online – saving clients time and money, as well as streamlining the administrative process. To date, more than 40,000 filings have been submitted and half of all new companies are now started online in Ohio.
