NZ Supreme Court confirms Mainzeal directors’ liabilities for over NZ$39 million
The Supreme Court of New Zealand has dismissed directors’ appeals from a finding that they must pay over NZ$6 million and up to NZ$39.8 million
25/08/2023
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 Taxation of over $105m in
23/08/2023
ASIC v Bettles – case dismissed, with costs
ASIC has lost a major Federal Court proceeding brought against a senior and experienced liquidator, Jason Bettles, alleging that his conduct “constituted so gross a
21/08/2023
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 pre-insolvency advisers”. It is Part
17/08/2023
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 to offer and facilitate unlawful
17/08/2023
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 some earlier comments that in
13/08/2023
UK personal insolvency reforms – summary of responses and next steps
In my comments of July 2023 following, I reviewed the 2022 call for evidence in the UK on reform of the personal insolvency system. The
13/08/2023
Businesses are rarely neatly arranged when insolvency strikes
While the government is thinking about the various recommendations of the PJC Report[1] about improving our current corporate insolvency laws, I have been trying to
10/08/2023
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 consulting on 2 new ones.
08/08/2023
“Record penalties” imposed … against insolvent companies
While much is made of the “record penalties of $438m” penalties imposed on the Phoenix Institute and related companies for egregious conduct in relation to
01/08/2023
ASIC beleaguered – updated
Updated 29 July 2023. Given the number of current and on-going inquiries into ASIC, it is as if the regulator were a wild renegade, calling
29/07/2023
Liquidator remuneration is “a perfect example of the many competing interests that arise in a liquidation” …
and is “indicative of broader systemic factors within the insolvency system itself …”. The recent PJC Report on corporate insolvency recommended that [13] the proposed
25/07/2023
What does our insolvency system produce? [re-issued July 2023]
31 March 2022 Many of us who call for a major review of our insolvency laws must know that the data on the performance of
25/07/2023
Looking more at deregistered companies
“Enforcement agencies have long been aware of the role that the abandonment [deregistration] of companies plays in illegal phoenix activity. In 1995 the Australian Securities
19/07/2023
Thoughts on the PJC’s Corporate Insolvency Report
The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services (‘PJC’) handed down its Report into Corporate Insolvency in Australia on 12 July. The Report contains
19/07/2023
Offence reporting by insolvency practitioners
What is said to be the limited response by ASIC to corporate misconduct reports by liquidators is the subject of some on-going attention. Recommendation 19
17/07/2023
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 self- or co-regulation of insolvency
17/07/2023
Gender, and diversity, in insolvency practice, continued
The July 2023 PJC report into corporate insolvency[1] makes recommendations on the “problem” of the limited female representation among liquidators, around 10%, noting that “there
17/07/2023
UK’s review of its 2020 insolvency law reforms, with Australia compared
The quality of a recent UK review of its 2020 insolvency law reforms is compared with the approach taken in Australia. In my comment of
09/07/2023
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 bodies to one of direct
09/07/2023
Increase in Australian insolvency numbers
Personal insolvency numbers show a continued increase in numbers but still well below past figures; on the other hand, corporate insolvencies are just approaching pre-COVID-19
04/07/2023
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 Professional Accountability: Structural Challenges in
23/06/2023
Personal insolvency statistics – March quarter increase; April monthly decrease
There is good and bad news in the latest personal insolvency statistics from AFSA. March quarter increase The full March 2023 quarter numbers show an
01/06/2023
Principles of Regulation of Insolvency Practitioners – an international standard
This comment was issued in October 2018; it is re-issued in May 2023, but not updated, for interest. The rather opaque International Association of Insolvency
17/05/2023