External Administration Compliance Assistance: Report on Company Activities and Property, books and records
Request Assistance for External Administration
From March 2020, you can request assistance from ASIC in circumstances when officers and individuals related to an entity in external administration fail to comply with their legislative requirements online via the ASIC Regulatory Portal. Prior to March 2020, this request was formerly known as the Liquidator assistance program (LAP).
Liquidators and administrators can ask ASIC for help obtaining:
- Form 507 Report on Company Activities and Property (ROCAP) – formerly Report as to Affairs (RATA)
- books and records in the possession of officers of a company
- books and records in the possession of a third party.
How ASIC can assist
We may contact company officers or third parties to remind them of their statutory obligations to assist liquidators and administrators when companies enter external administration.
Where the failure to assist the liquidator or administrator persists, we may commence criminal proceedings against:
- company officers – for failing to provide a ROCAP (e.g s475, etc) and/or failing to provide books and records (s530A)
- third parties – for failing to provide books and records (s530B).
How liquidators and administrators can request ASIC's assistance
We prefer you request our assistance separate from your s533 report so we can deal with the matter quickly and efficiently.
Requests for assistance are to be lodged via the ASIC Regulatory Portal.
It is preferable that you seek our assistance to obtain a ROCAP and/or books and records prior to applying for Assetless Administration funding for preparing Supplementary Reports that will allege contraventions of s475, s530A or s530B.
Information you will need to provide ASIC
When requesting our assistance, you should provide a covering letter that addresses the following:
- details of the winding up
- the company officer concerned
- the officer's relationship to the company
- contact details for the officer, including residential addresses, business addresses, email addresses and telephone numbers
- the amount of the estimated deficiency of the company. If unknown, the amount claimed by the petitioning creditor
- details of any contact between and/or your staff and the officer, including notices and letters sent to the officer, emails, file notes of meetings and telephone conversations, and details of any books and records that have already been provided
- if some books and records have been provided, but you believe there are further books in the officer's possession, provide details of the further books required and evidence to support your belief that the officer has possession of these books, and
- if a third party has possession of company books and records, provide the name and contact details of the person. Provide evidence to support your belief that the person has possession of company books and records, and details of any contact between you and/or your staff and the person.
What you may be required to do
Once we have received your request for assistance, we may request a statement or affidavit from you that describes the history of the matter and the details of non-compliance. We will email you a template statement or affidavit to complete if required.
You must be prepared to attend court and give evidence in the event we commence a prosecution. Once we commence a prosecution, we will only withdraw proceedings in very limited circumstances.
If you submit a request for assistance, and the officer subsequently complies with their obligations to submit a ROCAP and/or books and records, you must immediately notify ASIC.
ASIC information sheet for company officers
When requesting that company officers provide ROCAP, books and records and company property, external administrators should include this, where appropriate: Providing assistance to external administrators - Books, records and ROCAP (INFO 53).