You don't give hiring managers much credit there. You don't think most hiring managers (or their in-house recruiters) will at least google what "FooBar Associates" is, whether it's an on-going concern, whether the registered address is your home address, whether the filing date is during a time of your unemployment, etc? It takes minutes on Google to do it if you're at all suspicious. If it's from 10 years ago, I don't care. If it's your current "gig", you can be certain I'll look into it before the interview and be prepared to ask you about it in person.
Nothing wrong with consulting, and IMO nothing wrong with trying and failing to go it yourself, but if I think you're being intentionally deceitful on your CV, you'll be dropped like a rock as soon as I'm reasonably sure of that point.
I realize you only need to fool one firm to get a job, but it's not a trivial couple hour exercise to implement.
I care only if I think the candidate was actually unemployed, not working, and trying to cover it up with a fake business.
I've actually come across that situation. It speaks to character. If you genuinely were consulting, or even trying to form a consultancy or freelance business, but ultimately failed, that's one thing. Making a fake business and doing the minimal paperwork to "make it legit" so you don't have a paper gap on your CV is quite another.
Nothing wrong with consulting, and IMO nothing wrong with trying and failing to go it yourself, but if I think you're being intentionally deceitful on your CV, you'll be dropped like a rock as soon as I'm reasonably sure of that point.
I realize you only need to fool one firm to get a job, but it's not a trivial couple hour exercise to implement.