Courts professions and regulation

NOCLAR – accountants’ reporting of offences

Some while ago, I took an interest in the professional obligation that accountants decided to impose on themselves to respond ...

NZ insolvency practitioner sanctioned

A sanction of a New Zealand liquidator for the poor handling of his matters provides an illustration of New Zealand’s ...

Slow pace of litigation and incomprehensible laws

Former Federal Court judge Steven Rares is reported in the AFR[1] as having made several comments about the justice system ...

Bankruptcy by mistake – who pays?

What started out as a minor dispute over plumbing work for $2,880 descended into the plumber obtaining a judgment for ...

Rights to appeal – some limits?

In dealing with an unmeritorious bankruptcy law appeal, a Federal Court Judge has made a suggestion to limit appeal rights ...

Annual reports 2022-2023: of ASIC – ‘a deliberate strategy of obfuscation so that the public is kept in the dark ….’? and of AFSA

ASIC’s ASIC Annual Report 2022–23 has been released amidst some recent severe criticism of the quality of its annual reports ...

Regulation of firms offering insolvency services

Further to my earlier post on insolvency practitioner (IP) regulation in the UK, and contrary to expectations,[1] the UK government ...

‘Masculinity contest cultures’, and gender imbalance?

Evidence before the Parliamentary Joint Committee inquiry into Ethics and Professional Accountability [1] (PJC inquiry) may assist in considering the ...

ACCC’s new penalty guidelines – some queries

The ACCC has issued new penalty guidelines – Guidelines on ACCC approach to penalties in competition and consumer law matters ...

The cross-border regulation of insolvency practitioners – insights from INSOL Tokyo

I was invited to present at the INSOL International Academic Colloquium on 12 September 2023 in Tokyo on the panel ...

Cross-border regulation of insolvency practitioners – INSOL Tokyo – where are the government regulators?

This commentary has now been updated.  See The cross-border regulation of insolvency practitioners – Murrays Legal ============================================== I was pleased ...

ASIC v Jones [GD Pork] – insolvency practitioner independence and pre-insolvency advice

A court decision concerning insolvency practitioner independence and pre-insolvency advice usefully raises issues recommended for law reform review by the ...

15 years for tax fraud – immoral and illegal

Mr Adam Cranston has been sentenced to 15 years jail for his involvement in conspiracies to deprive the Commissioner of ...

PJC Recommendation – Pre-Insolvency Advisers – Part 1: summary

The full article on this topic of 1800 words, for those interested, looks that the PJC Report recommendations about “untrustworthy ...

PJC recommendation – pre-insolvency advisers – Part 1

The PJC Report on Corporate Insolvency 2023 has responded to concerns expressed about “untrustworthy pre-insolvency advisers”, those that are said ...

Sunlight on pre-insolvency advisers

Updated 14.8.23: While pondering the 2023 Parliamentary Joint Committee’s recommendations about pre-insolvency advisers, I am reminded to go back to ...

Updates to ASIC insolvency regulatory guides

ASIC is in the process of updating 4 of its regulatory guides on insolvency, in the next few months, and ...

ASIC beleaguered – updated

Updated 29 July 2023. Given the number of current and on-going inquiries into ASIC, it is as if the regulator ...

UK insolvency practitioners to come under direct government regulation

At the same time that the chair of the Australian PJC inquiry into corporate insolvency, Senator Deborah O’Neill, said that ...

Cancellation of a liquidator’s registration

While England is still deciding whether to change its system of insolvency practitioner regulation from one of co-regulation by professional ...

Should the firms of insolvency practitioners be regulated, along with the practitioner?

While Australia is currently focusing on the standards of conduct of accounting firms, and their partners – see Ethics and ...

Anti-money laundering laws to be improved, including registers of beneficial owners

The 2023 budget has allocated funds for action on Anti‐Money Laundering and Counter‐Terrorism Financing (AML) laws, including a beneficial ownership ...

Insolvency practitioner independence – how commercial is the fair-minded observer?

A pending WA appeal decision may address the issue of the extent to which commercial considerations surrounding the appointment of ...

Now we have three Part 5.3B restructuring practitioners

One more person has been appointed as a restructuring practitioner to conduct administrations under Part 5.3B of the Corporations Act ...