Business Survival Series: Pareto Principle
Is your business struggling? Are you losing significant market share or are your margins too small? What next?
A Complete Guide to the Small Business Restructuring Process
Simplified debt restructuring is a new process available as of 1 January 2021 to support financially distressed small businesses. In simplified debt restructuring, an independent professional known as a ‘small business restructuring practitioner’ is appointed to a distressed debtor company to assist with restructuring the company’s debt via development of a ‘restructuring plan’.
What are Unfair Preference Claims by a Company Liquidator?
In this article, we look at the definition of ‘unfair preference’ claims — a mechanism used by liquidators to claw back some prior payments to creditors. We also look at the available defences for an unfair preference claim, and how the new ‘simplified liquidation’ procedure for small businesses deals with unfair preference claims.
What is Wage Theft?
Wage theft is the underpayment of employees. Wage theft can occur in a number of ways, for example underpaying wages, not granting entitlements or refusing to pay penalty rates, superannuation, overtime or commissions.
Section 77C Bankruptcy Examinations Are Now Allowed Via Videoconference
An important part of the personal bankruptcy process in Australia is the ability of those overseeing the process to ‘examine’ the individual undergoing bankruptcy or any other relevant person. This is the ability to question that person or those persons, under oath, about their financial affairs, fraud or involvement with the bankrupt. This power is contained within section 77C of the Bankruptcy Act 1966 (Cth) and is sometimes known as a ‘private examination’.
Business Survival Series: Respect Your Creditors
Having creditors is a necessary element of business. But those lines of credit extended to your business do not come without some reciprocal obligations. Respecting your creditors should always be a priority. It is vital that you maintain a strong creditor-debtor relationship, even as situations change and become more difficult.
Business Survival Series: Misconceptions About Starting a Business
Starting a business can be a mystifying process. It involves overcoming complex and seemingly never-ending challenges that can be frustrating to navigate and sometimes will not lead to a quick return. As such, when considering whether to begin such a difficult undertaking, it is immensely important to clarify some of the ideas surrounding starting a business.
Zombie Companies: Is your business walking dead? Complete Guide for SMEs
A zombie company is a business that barely scrapes by and is always short of cash. The problem with zombie companies is that they can be easily tipped over the edge into insolvency when something goes wrong. Read our article to learn more about the signs, symptoms and consequences of zombie companies.
The Complete Guide to Trading Trusts for small and medium-sized business
A trading trust is a trust over goodwill and business assets with the trustee being the legal person responsible to creditors. A trading trust is usually a discretionary trust whose trustee is a company, that is used to trade for the benefit of the beneficiaries. As with a non-trading trust, a trading trust separates legal ownership of assets from beneficial ownership and control. The controllers of the business are the owners and their family who exercise a controlling mind through their appointment as directors of the trustee company.
The Complete Guide to Cryptocurrency Fraud for Australian Investors
In recent years, there has been a real ‘gold rush’ for cryptocurrency. And while cryptocurrency needs to be ‘mined’, just like the real stuff, it is much easier to transport and, potentially, keep secure.
What should a Pre-Insolvency Adviser (a lawyer, accountant or other professional) do to help a financially troubled small or medium-sized business?
Pre-insolvency advisers are professionals who help business owners to conduct a root cause analysis to understand why their business is failing and then help them to develop a turnaround strategy (i.e. what to do next) or if this is not possible, plan an orderly winding up.
The Complete Guide to Illegal Phoenix Activity
Illegal phoenix activity — the ‘re-birth’ of a business in new corporate feathers to avoid its obligations — has been a major concern of regulators in Australia for the last 25 years. In this ultimate guide we explain everything you ever wanted (and didn’t want) to know about phoenix activity in Australia.