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ASIC Corporate Insolvency Update – Issue 36

Issue 36, June 2025

Review of small business restructuring process

On 27 June 2025, we published Report 810 Review of small business restructuring process: 2022–24 (REP 810).

The report outlines the findings from ASIC’s review of small business restructuring appointments that commenced after 1 July 2022 and before 31 December 2024.

For more information, see Media Release (25-111MR) ASIC report suggests small business restructurings are keeping struggling companies afloat.

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New Form 5602 user guide

We have released a new user guide for Form 5602 Annual administration return containing tips and guidance to assist registered liquidators and their staff in preparing and completing Form 5602 for lodgement in the ASIC liquidator and/or agent portal.

The purpose of the guide is to help registered liquidators and their staff submit accurate, comparable and timely financial data about their external administrations. This will help ASIC publish granular information about the composition of receipts and payments in external administrations.

Key topics covered include how to:

  • record gross asset realisations (e.g. what asset realisations can be included and excluded)
  • input remuneration in the remuneration table, particularly in transitional appointments to avoid duplication
  • treat Fair Entitlements Guarantee (FEG) scheme payments
  • quantify creditor liabilities in the creditor table (e.g. do not reduce liabilities when a dividend has been paid)
  • categorise receipts and payments, such as dividends (e.g. use the ‘unsecured creditor’ transaction category for a dividend to unsecured creditors), and
  • resolve common error messages when uploading files.

Most of this guidance also applies to Form 5603 End of administration return.

The Form 5602 user guide is available on our website: see Lodging forms in structured data.

We encourage registered liquidators and their staff to use and become familiar with the user guide.

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Should you submit an insolvency supplementary statutory report to ASIC?

Earlier this year, we consulted with registered liquidators, professional bodies and academics to discuss how we can improve the way we receive, assess and, where appropriate, act on intelligence from registered liquidators through initial statutory reports (ISRs) and supplementary statutory reports (SSRs).

From 11 April 2025, we stopped issuing automated requests for an SSR following system-based assessments of an ISR. Registered liquidators should exercise their professional judgement to decide if it is appropriate to submit an SSR to us. We may request an SSR from registered liquidators if it helps us with our work.

If you consider it is appropriate to submit an SSR, or if we have requested an SSR from you but you have no funds to investigate and prepare the report, we may be able to help. If you think a grant from the Assetless Administration Fund (AA Fund) will help you with preparing the report and you meet the grant guidelines, we encourage you to apply for funding.

Here are some useful links to guidance about statutory reports and the AA Fund:

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Guidance on sustainability reporting requirements

We have published Regulatory Guide 280 Sustainability reporting (RG 280) following extensive public consultation. Preparers of sustainability reports should familiarise themselves with RG 280 as it will help them comply with the relevant legislative requirements.

RG 280 provides guidance for entities that are required to prepare a sustainability report containing climate-related financial information under Chapter 2M of the Corporations Act 2001. Entities involved may include companies, registered schemes, registrable superannuation entities, and retail corporate collective investment vehicles.

The regulatory guide also provides guidance on:

  • the content required in a sustainability report
  • disclosing sustainability-related financial information outside a sustainability report (e.g. in disclosure documents and product disclosure statements), and
  • ASIC’s administration of the sustainability reporting requirements (including our specific approach to considering relief and use of our new directions power).

As the sustainability reporting requirements are being phased in, we will take a pragmatic and proportionate approach to supervision and enforcement.

Meanwhile, we have provided relief to allow stapled entities to prepare consolidated sustainability reports for the stapled group. Information for entities within the value chain of reporting entities, including small businesses and farmers, has also been provided: see Sustainability reporting for small business.

We will consider any applications seeking other relief from the sustainability reporting and audit requirements. It may initially take us some time to consider these applications, as they may raise complex or novel issues.

Registered liquidators should be aware of the legislative changes and consider any implications, such as reporting requirements, on their external administrations.

For more information, see:

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Reminder to small business directors of their obligations to manage company money and assets appropriately

We recently issued a reminder to small business directors of their obligations to manage company money and assets appropriately.

In the article, we reinforce the legal requirements, provide information for company directors about how they can make sure they get it right, and outline the consequences of getting it wrong.

Company directors have legal obligations—in particular, they should:

  • remember that it is company money, not their personal money, and
  • consider the interests of their company as a whole when making decisions about company assets and money.

We encourage you to circulate this reminder to colleagues who are accountants or lawyers for small and medium-sized entities.

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Use of ASIC email inboxes for general enquiries

Registered liquidators and their staff should consider alternative sources of guidance or assistance before sending enquiries to ASIC by email, particularly to RLQueries@asic.gov.au.

We regularly receive general insolvency-related enquiries from liquidators’ staff that are more appropriate for the liquidator or senior insolvency staff to address, or can be answered using information available on our website. We also see cases where the same enquiry is repeated or sent to multiple email inboxes.

Before emailing ASIC, please consider other alternatives. These include seeking assistance within your firm or referring to information we have published on our website, such as articles in our quarterly Corporate insolvency update, form lodgement flowcharts, user guides, information sheets and regulatory guides. This is likely to be the fastest way to get the information you need.

If your enquiry relates to ASIC forms, in the first instance you should refer to: Information Sheet 29 External administration, controller appointments and schemes of arrangement: Most commonly lodged forms (INFO 29). If your enquiry remains unsatisfied, email RLQueries@asic.gov.au.

Members of professional bodies or industry associations may also consider reaching out to those bodies or associations. If the matter is complex or novel, consider seeking independent legal advice.

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The new series of the Inside ASIC podcast is now live

Check out our new podcast series, Inside ASIC, to hear more about our work on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.

In our most recent episodes, we look at the work ASIC is doing to prevent serious financial harm in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and some of the big issues with insurance after recent devasting natural disasters in Australia.

Previous episodes have looked at why ASIC is holding super funds to account, cracking down on greenwashing and why we might just be witnessing a fundamental change in Australia’s financial markets with the rise of private markets. 

Listen to Inside ASIC here: Inside ASIC

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Media releases and news articles

25-065MR ASIC disqualifies NSW hospitality director for maximum 5 years

25-055MR Court orders Falcon Capital and the First Guardian Master Fund to be wound up

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Insolvency statistics

Our insolvency statistics show that 13,413 companies entered external administration in the current financial year to 31 May 2025, up 34.2% from the 9,993 companies recorded for the same period in 2023–24.

Director-driven appointments continue to represent most of the initial appointments (72.2%), comprising voluntary liquidations (41.6%), small business restructurings (20.1%) and voluntary administrations (10.5%). Creditor-driven appointments represent 27.8% of appointments, comprising court liquidations (19.4%) and controllerships (8.4%).

As at 31 May 2025, there were 3,538,524 registered companies. While the ratio of companies entering external administration in the 12 months to 31 May 2025 compared to the number registered (0.41%) is up from the 12 months to 31 May 2024 (0.32%), it is still well below the previous peaks in the 2011–12 and 2012–13 financial years of 0.56% and 0.53%, respectively.

For more information, see the Insolvency statistics.

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Contacts

Email support and contact details for ASIC team members for each state and territory are available on the Contacts page.