Summary prosecutions of companies and directors
This page contains:
- Summary prosecutions: why and who?
- Find out who has been prosecuted
- What to do if you have a complaint about a company, a director or a business claiming to be a company
Summary prosecutions: why and who?
Since 1 July 2002 we have increased the number of prosecutions of people and companies for a variety of alleged breaches of the Corporations Act. Our reasons for doing this include:
- improving the quality of information available to the public, shareholders and members or officers of Australian companies
- assisting external administrators to address ongoing misconduct by company officers
- discouraging the misuse of ASIC's public database and
- preventing disqualified directors from managing companies.
For example, we are prosecuting:
- people who are alleged to have continued to act as an officer of a company after a liquidator is appointed
- company officers who allegedly failed to assist insolvency practitioners to administer a failed company by not providing a Report on Company Activities and Property (ROCAP) – formerly known as the Report as to Affairs (RATA) – company books and records and assistance when requested
- company officers themselves and their companies for allegedly failing to update ASIC registers with the addresses of their companies and company officers
- people who are alleged to have used company titles when no such company was registered by ASIC.
Find out who has been prosecuted
For people prosecuted between January 2009-March 2011
This content has been removed in accordance with our policy in Information Sheet 152 Public comment on ASIC's regulatory activities.
What to do if you have a complaint about a company, director or a business claiming to be a company
Complaints from the public
You can lodge a complaint about any company, director or business claiming to be a company.
See Report misconduct to ASIC.
Complaints from insolvency practitioners
Telling us about officers who will not hand over company books and records or submit ROCAPs