Ariff and insolvency practitioner regulation
It is interesting to compare the rather muted reaction to millions of dollars missing from three insolvent estates in Sydney with the extreme reaction, over
06/01/2025
Thousands and thousands of business collapses?
A rather dramatic headline, political only, warning that an extra 10,000 businesses will go under by June 2025 might best be seen only as a
02/01/2025
How long does it take to disqualify a director?
Fifteen years after a director’s first misconduct, and seven years after his companies went into liquidation, ASIC has reported by media release its achievement of
27/12/2024
Personal insolvency numbers remain low – AFSA report
AFSA has released a useful report on personal insolvencies in 2023-2024, with some predictions as to the future. State of Personal Insolvency Report released for
19/12/2024
Australia’s suggested update of UNCITRAL’s Cross-Border Insolvency Guide
The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Working Group V (Insolvency Law) is meeting this week 16-20 December 2024 in Vienna. Its two main
17/12/2024
Former liquidator sentenced to 4 years jail; ASIC yet to explain
ASIC reports that former registered liquidator Peter Andrew Amos was sentenced on 13 December 2024 in the District Court of NSW to four years imprisonment
17/12/2024
The costs of insolvency practitioner regulation
ASIC has released its analysis of the costs of regulation of liquidators; AFSA has issued comparable analyses of the costs of regulation of trustees. ASIC’s
16/12/2024
Former liquidator sentenced to 4 years jail, 2 years non-parole
Former liquidator, Mr Peter Amos, has been sentenced to 4 years imprisonment, 2 years non-parole, for misappropriation of around $2.5m in breach of the Corporations
16/12/2024
Public regulators aren’t to blame for private enterprise misconduct, ok?
In a rather sad comment on standards of conduct in many parts of the private enterprise sector, ASIC has listed the range of industries and
12/12/2024
Financial abuse report – corporate, tax, bankruptcy and family law conduct
Among the 61 recommendations of the Report of the Parliamentary Joint Committee (PJC) on Corporations and Financial Services – Financial abuse: an insidious form of
10/12/2024
Productivity inquiry into phoenix activity
The Productivity Commission (PC) has issued its National Competition Policy: modelling proposed reforms. Among proposed inquiries into electric vehicle charging and marine freight is an
08/12/2024
Courts’ statistics on their delayed judgments
As a 2025 postscript to my comments below, while it will often be difficult to anticipate the time that litigation commenced by an insolvency practitioner
07/12/2024
ASIC updates “guidance to help directors prevent insolvent trading”
ASIC has updated its regulatory guide for directors and their professional advisers on the duty to prevent insolvent trading – s 588G Corporations Act –
07/12/2024
A confused director
A challenge to a winding up demand served on Lifestyle Homes (ACT) Pty Ltd over the omission of the words ‘of court’ went through 5
02/12/2024
A further continued fall in personal insolvencies
Following my October 2024 report, below, that personal insolvencies dropped in number in each of July, August and September 2024, AFSA has now reported the
30/11/2024
Not a skerrick …..
An Australian judge used the unusual word ‘skerrick’ recently, which means “a small piece or quantity” – as in “the absence of a skerrick of
28/11/2024
Personal insolvency numbers
AFSA has reported that personal insolvencies increased in the September quarter 2024 compared to September quarter 2023. That is, there were 3,307 new personal insolvencies
27/11/2024
Insolvency and competition law – two disciplines moving as parallel universes, without coordination
“Ultimately, it seems that the two disciplines move as parallel universes, without any coordination …”. Only “by linking the attempt to restructure the company in
21/11/2024
Are pecuniary penalties actually paid?
One enforcement tool of regulators is to obtain a court ordered civil penalty against the respondent company or individual. That then allows the regulator to
11/11/2024
AFSA’s annual report on personal insolvency?
The AFSA 2023–24 Annual Report has been released, reporting on the information required under particular public sector legislation. Unlike ASIC, AFSA is not required to,
08/11/2024
Litigation Funding in Insolvency and in Class Actions
This queries corporate insolvency’s requirement for approval of liquidators’ litigation funding in the context of an article comparing litigation funding of insolvency claims and of
07/11/2024
Insolvency law reform – and income contributions
A 1997 article about the need for data in insolvency law reform, rather than relying on assumptions and anecdotes unsupported by empirical research, remains as
04/11/2024
Insolvency practitioner remuneration – continued ….
A report in a daily newspaper[1] has commented on the large fees earner by liquidators and administrators in attending to the collapse of some large
30/10/2024
What is the future of insolvency practice?
In my reply to an interesting comment from a practitioner about the fundamental difficulties of lack of funding for insolvency work, I extracted my commentary
28/10/2024
