Insolvency: a guide for directors
This information sheet provides general information on insolvency for directors whose companies are in financial difficulty, or are insolvent, and includes information on the most common forms of external administration.
An insolvent company is one that is unable to pay all its debts when they fall due for payment. There are serious penalties for allowing your company to trade while insolvent. If your company is in financial difficulty, you should seek independent advice on your duties and the options available.
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Who is a director?
A director is not just a person appointed to that role. Under the
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Corporations Act 2001
(Corporations Act), a person may also be a director if they are not formally appointed but act in that role, or if the directors of the company act in accordance with their instructions or wishes.
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Directorsí duties
Generally, in addition to the requirement to ensure compliance with general and specific laws applying to your companyís operations, your primary duty is to the shareholders. However, if your company is insolvent, or there is a real risk of insolvency, your duties expand to include creditors (including employees with outstanding entitlements).
General duties
General duties imposed by the Corporations Act on directors and officers of companies include:
ï the duty to exercise your powers and duties with the care and diligence that a reasonable person would have, which includes taking steps to ensure you are properly informed about the financial position of the company and ensuring the company doesnít trade if it is insolvent
ï the duty to exercise your powers and duties in good faith in the best interests of the company and for a proper purpose
ï the duty not to improperly use your position to gain an advantage for yourself or someone else, or to cause detriment to the company, and
ï the duty not to improperly use information obtained through your position to gain an advantage for yourself or someone else, or to cause detriment to the company.
Duty to not trade while insolvent
As well as general directorsí duties, you also have a positive duty to prevent your company trading if it is insolvent. A company is insolvent if it is unable to pay all its debts when they are due. This means that before you incur a new debt you must consider whether you have reasonable grounds to suspect that the company is insolvent or will become insolvent as a result of incurring the debt.
An understanding of the financial position of your company only when you sign off on the yearly financial statements is insufficient. You need to be constantly aware of your companyís financial position.
Duty to keep books and records
Your company must keep adequate financial records to correctly record and explain transactions and the companyís financial position and performance. A failure of a director to take all reasonable steps to ensure a company fulfils this requirement contravenes the Corporations Act.
For the purposes of an insolvent trading action against a director, a company will generally be presumed to have been insolvent throughout a period where it can be shown to have failed to keep adequate financial records.
Consequences of insolvent trading
There are various penalties and consequences of insolvent trading, including civil penalties, compensation proceedings and criminal charges.
The Corporations Act provides some statutory defences for directors. However, directors may find it difficult to rely upon these if they have not taken steps to keep themselves informed about the companyís financial position.
Civil penalties
Contravening the insolvent trading provisions of the Corporations Act can result in civil penalties against directors, including pecuniary penalties of up to $200,000.
Compensation proceedings
Compensation proceedings for amounts lost by creditors can be initiated by ASIC, a liquidator or a creditor against a director personally. A compensation order can be made in addition to civil penalties.
Compensation payments are potentially unlimited and could lead to the personal bankruptcy of directors. The personal bankruptcy of a director disqualifies that director from continuing as a director or managing a company.
Criminal charges
If dishonesty is found to be a factor in insolvent trading, a director may also be subject to criminal charges (which can lead to a fine of up to $220,000 or imprisonment for up to 5 years, or both). Being found guilty of the criminal offence of insolvent trading will also lead to a directorís disqualification.
ASIC has successfully prosecuted directors for allowing companies to incur debts when the company is insolvent, and has sought orders making directors personally liable for company debts. ASIC also runs a program to visit directors, where appropriate, to make them aware of their responsibilities to prevent insolvent trading.
The good news is that taking steps to ensure your company remains financially sound will minimise the risk of an insolvent trading action. It may also improve your companyís performance.
What to do if you suspect financial difficulty
If you suspect your company is in financial difficulty, get proper accounting and legal advice as early as possible, as this increases the likelihood of the company surviving. One of the most common reasons for the inability to save a company in financial distress is that professional advice was sought too late. Do not have a ëhead in the sandí attitude, hoping that things will improveóthey rarely do. Table 1 lists some of the warning signs of insolvency.
Table 1: Signs that may indicate your company is at risk of insolvency
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An insolvency practitioner can conduct a solvency review of your company and outline available options. You need to be aware of your options so that you can make informed decisions about your companyís future. Options may include refinancing, restructuring or changing your companyís activities, or appointing an external administrator.
The three most common forms of external administration are:
1. voluntary administration (which may lead to a deed of a company arrangement)
2. liquidation, and
3. receivership.
Of these, only the first two are normally options for directors, as a receiver is usually appointed by a secured creditor. (Other forms of external administration are not explained in this information sheet.)
To find an insolvency professional, visit the Insolvency Practitioners Association website at www.ipaa.com.au. This site lists insolvency accountants and lawyers, and you can search for members in your location.
Tax office s222AOE penalty notice
If you receive a s222AOE penalty notice from the Commissioner of Taxation for your companyís unpaid tax, you should immediately seek professional advice. Failure to take appropriate steps within 14 days may result in the Commissioner taking recovery action against you personally for an amount equivalent to the unpaid tax.
What to do if your company is insolvent
If your company is insolvent, do not allow it to incur further debt. Unless it is possible to restructure, refinance or obtain equity funding to recapitalise the company, generally your options are to appoint a voluntary administrator or a liquidator.
Voluntary administration
Voluntary administration is designed to resolve the companyís future direction quickly. An independent and suitably qualified person (the voluntary administrator) takes full control of the company to try to work out a way to save either the company or the companyís business.
If it isnít possible to save the company or its business, the aim is to administer the affairs of the company in a way that results in a better return to creditors than they would have received if the company had instead been placed straight into liquidation.
A mechanism for achieving these aims is a deed of company arrangement.
Putting a company into voluntary administration is a simple and quick process. It can be done by the board of the company resolving that the company is insolvent, or likely to become insolvent, and an administrator should be appointed. The directors also need to obtain the written consent of a registered liquidator to act as voluntary administrator.
Liquidation
The purpose of liquidation of an insolvent company is to have an independent and suitably qualified person (the liquidator) take control of the company so that its affairs can be wound up in an orderly and fair way for the benefit of its creditors.
An insolvency professional will be able to advise you of the steps required to appoint a liquidator. Generally, a director-initiated liquidation involves calling a meeting of members to vote on winding up the company and the appointment of a liquidator.
Receivership
A company most commonly goes into receivership when a receiver is appointed by a secured creditor who holds security over some or all of the companyís assets. The receiverís primary role is to collect and sell sufficient of the companyís charged assets to repay the debt owed to the secured creditor.
A director who is also a secured creditor should seek advice before appointing a receiver.
Consequences of external administration
As well as the possibility of insolvent trading action, discussed earlier, there are other consequences for directors of a company that goes into external administration. These vary depending on the type of external administration.
Directorsí powers
Directors of companies in voluntary administration or liquidation lose control of the company. If a company goes from voluntary administration into a deed of company arrangement, the powers of the
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directors depend on the deedís terms. When the deed is completed, the directors regain full control unless the deed provides for the company to go into liquidation on completion.
In a receivership, the powers of the directors depend on the powers of the receiver, as detailed in the charge document, and the extent of the assets over which the receiver is appointed. If the receiver is appointed over all or most of the assets of a company, the receiver effectively has control, although the directors still have certain responsibilities and duties, and may retain residual control.
Directorsí obligations
Generally, directors have an obligation to assist the external administrator by:
ï advising the external administrator of the location of company property and delivering any such property in their possession to the external administrator
ï providing the companyís books and records to the external administrator (voluntary administration and liquidation) or giving access to the books and records to the external administrator (receivership)
ï advising the external administrator of the whereabouts of other company records
ï providing a written report about the companyís business, property and financial circumstances within either 5 business days (voluntary administration), 7 days (creditorsí voluntary liquidation) or 14 days (receivership and court liquidation) of the appointment of the external administrator, and
ï meeting with, or reporting to, the external administrator to help them with their enquiries, as reasonably required.
Directors, officers and other people with relevant books and records have a responsibility to the company and to creditors, and must not obstruct external administrators in carrying out their duties.
Creditorsí meetings
Meetings of creditors are held in voluntary administrations and liquidations.
Both a voluntary administrator and liquidator can also require a director to attend a creditorsí meeting to provide information about the company and its business, property, affairs and financial circumstances.
Public examination
A voluntary administrator or liquidator has the power to apply to the court to conduct a public examination, under oath, of a director. A receiver can also apply for a public examination, if ASIC consents.
Being summonsed to appear for a public examination is a serious matter and should not be ignored. Seek immediate legal advice if you are in any way concerned about the public examination process or your rights.
The external administrator conducting the public examination may be interested in your personal financial position or further details about assets or transactions the company undertook. Often the need for a public examination can be avoided by cooperating with the external administrator.
Disqualification
If a director has been involved with two or more companies that have gone into liquidation within the last 7 years and paid their creditors less than 50 cents in the dollar, ASIC may disqualify them from managing corporations for up to 5 years. This effectively bans a person from acting as a director.
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ASIC can also apply for orders disqualifying a person from managing corporations for up to 20 years if they have been an officer of two or more companies that have failed within the last 7 years, and the way in which the companies were managed contributed to the failures.
Employee entitlement proceedings
It is an offence for anyone, including a director, to enter into an agreement or transaction with the intention of avoiding employee entitlements of a company. The maximum penalty is $110,000 or 10 years imprisonment, or both.
If the company is in liquidation and the employees suffer damage or loss as a result of a person entering into such an agreement or transaction, that person is liable to pay compensation for the loss suffered. This liability can arise even if the person has not been convicted of an offence for the contravention. A recovery action for compensation can be taken by the liquidator or, in certain circumstances, by an employee.
To find out more
For an explanation of terms used in this information sheet, see ASIC information sheet INFO 41
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Insolvency: a glossary of terms
. For more on voluntary administration, liquidation and receivership, see ASICís related information sheets, available at www.asic.gov.au/insolvencyinfosheets: ï INFO 74
Voluntary administration: a guide for creditors ï
INFO 75 Voluntary administration: a guide for employees ï
INFO 45 Liquidation: a guide for creditors ï
INFO 46 Liquidation: a guide for employees ï
INFO 54 Receivership: a guide for creditors ï
INFO 55 Receivership: a guide for employees ï
INFO 43 Insolvency: a guide for shareholders ï
INFO 84 Independence of external administrators: a guide for creditors ï
INFO 85 Approving fees: a guide for creditors †
These are also available from the Insolvency Practitioners Association (IPA) website at www.ipaa.com.au. The IPA website also contains the IPAís Code of Professional Practice for Insolvency Practitioners, which applies to IPA members.
