Fact Sheets |
| Types of Insolvency Administrations |
| Bankruptcy |
Bankruptcy is a legal process where a trustee is appointed to administer a person's
affairs so as to provide a fair distribution of that person's
assets to their creditors. |
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| Control before Bankruptcy |
The Bankruptcy Act provides two ways for creditors to protect their
interests and stop the debtor's assets from being disbursed or
hidden. |
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| Liquidation |
Liquidation is a process for the winding up of a company's affairs in order to
provide for a dismantling of a company's affairs and a fair
distribution to creditors. |
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| Members Voluntary Winding Up |
A Members Voluntary Winding Up is the process of winding up a solvent company, done
when the members no longer wish to retain the company structure. |
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| Part X |
Part X (Part 10) is a part of the Bankruptcy Act that allows a debtor to enter into an
arrangement with their creditors without being made bankrupt. |
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| Part IX |
Part IX (Part 9) is a part of the Bankruptcy Act that allows a debtor to enter into to
an arrangement with their creditors without being made bankrupt. |
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| Provisional Liquidation |
A provisional liquidation is the Court appointment of a liquidator to a
company in the period between the filing of the application to
wind up the company and the Court hearing the application. |
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| Section 73 Proposals |
Section 73 provides a bankrupt with the opportunity to make a proposal to his or her
creditors to satisfy their debts and have their bankruptcy annulled. |
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| Secured Appointments |
Creditors holding securities over a debtor's assets may exercise that security and
appoint someone to take control of that asset and sell it. |
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| Voluntary Administration |
Voluntary Administration is designed to assist companies to either
come to a formal arrangement with their creditors to pay their debts, or are quickly and inexpensively placed into
liquidation.
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| Insolvency Topics |
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588FH Preferences |
Section 588FH allows
liquidators to recover money from an entity related to the
company, when a creditor has received a preferential payment and
that related entity was released from an obligation to that
creditor. |
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Bankruptcy & the Family Home |
How the Bankruptcy Act
applies to a bankrupt's family home is often misunderstood. The
loss of the bankrupt's family home is usually felt more
intensely than the loss of any other asset. |
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Determining Solvency |
Proving the insolvency
of a company or of a person (an 'entity') at a particular point
in time is usually one of the most difficult and time consuming
tasks of an external administrator. |
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Directors' Liabilities |
Directors can become
liable for company debts through Insolvent Trading; Unreasonable Director-Related Transactions; Taxation Debts; Personal Guarantees;
and if they are Directors of Corporate Trustees. |
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Director Related Transactions |
Liquidators investigate transactions when they
believe that they were not beneficial to the company, particularly when they involve parties related to the
company. |
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Dividends |
The aim in most external administrators is to
distribute the debtor's property amongst the creditors of the estate. |
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Employee Entitlements |
Employees are usually the first creditors to be
effected as their jobs will be at risk and there is a chance
that some of their outstanding entitlements will not be covered by GEERS. |
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Ending a Liquidation |
A liquidation usually
ends with the deregistration of the company. However, a
liquidation may end through a decision of the directors and the
liquidator, or an Order of the Court. |
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Getting out of Bankruptcy |
An annulment is a complete undoing of the bankruptcy, and.can only
happen if the bankrupt; pays all of the debts and costs of the estate; has a section 73 proposal accepted; or the Court
so orders. |
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Income Contributions |
A bankrupt may be
liable to make a contribution to their estate from income earned
during their bankruptcy so that some of the rewards from the
bankrupt's efforts during the bankruptcy period can be used to
satisfy their past debts. |
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Indicators of Insolvency |
Because the issue of
insolvency frequently arises, some Judges have developed
indicators of insolvency that they look for when considering the
question. |
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Insolvent Trading |
This is a claim for compensation made against a director of a company
in liquidation where the directors should have stopped the company
from incurring those debts. |
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Landlord Rights |
The end result of most
administrations will either be that: (a) the tenant will leave
the premises; or (b) its financial affairs will be rectified and
the tenancy will continue. |
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Lending Money |
Everyone about to lend money to someone will
want to know that they have the best chance of being repaid,
or if should the loan go bad, that they can recover the maximum amount
possible. |
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Meetings of Creditors |
Both the Corporations
Act and the Bankruptcy Act have strict rules about how meetings
of creditors are to be run and how issues are to be decided. |
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Objections to Discharge |
There are times when
it would be in the interest of the creditors or the general
public that the bankrupt not be discharged at the usual time. |
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Preferences in Bankruptcy |
Trustees may seek to
recover payments made to a creditor prior to the bankruptcy,
where that creditor has received a preference or advantage over
other creditors. |
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Preferences in Liquidations |
Liquidators may seek
to recover payments made to a creditor prior to the liquidation,
where that creditor has received a preference or advantage over
other creditors. |
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Proofs of Debt & Securities |
Creditors holding
securities over assets must take care that they do not void
their security by lodging a proof of debt incorrectly. |
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Public Examinations |
A public examination
is the common name given to the process of an external
administrator formally examining parties under the Corporations
Act or the Bankruptcy Act. |
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Retention of Title |
A retention of title
clause provides that ownership of the goods supplied does not
pass to the customer until full payment has been made - the
supplier retains title. |
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Revesting of Property |
Revesting is the
transfer of property that had vested in a bankruptcy trustee
back to the bankrupt after the end of the bankruptcy if the
bankruptcy trustee has not realized those assets. |
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Securities over Assets |
A security is a pledge
of an asset to a particular creditor to support a debt. A
creditor that holds a security is know as a secured creditor.
The asset is known as being "charged" and securities are also
known as charges. |
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Subcontractor's Charges |
A subcontractor's
charge is a statutory security granted to certain parties under
the Subcontractors' Charges Act. The charge secures payment of
monies owed to subcontractors. |
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Uncommercial Transactions |
Liquidators
investigate and sometimes seek to void transactions that they
believe were either not beneficial to, or was detrimental
to, the company. |
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Void Corporate Dividends |
Directors may become liable to compensate a company if a dividend
was paid but not out of
profits or if the dividend was paid while the company was insolvent. |
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Fraud Topics
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Advance Fee Fraud |
The goal of Advance
Fee fraud is to get the victim to pay an amount of money in
advance of getting a product or service. |
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Bribery |
Bribery is the
offering, giving or receiving of something of value in exchange
for gaining undue influence in a decision making process. |
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Cash Frauds |
Cash frauds are the
misappropriation or theft of money in the form of cash or
cheques. There are a number of forms of cash frauds. |
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Conflicts of Interest |
A conflict of interest
arises when an employee receives an undisclosed benefit in
relation to a transaction he conducts for their employer. |
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Credit Card Fraud |
Credit card fraud is a
billion dollar a year problem, and it will keep increasing as
credit cards become more abundant.. |
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Debt Factoring Fraud |
Factoring in its most
simple terms is the raising of finance against trade debtors. It
is a method of obtaining money from the debtor's ledger, before
the debt is collected. |
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Financial Statement Fraud |
The aim of financial
statement fraud is to create a false impression of the financial
position of the company. |
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Fraud in General |
Fraud is theft by
deception. It is a covert act. Theft without deception is just
theft. |
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Fraud Risk Analysis |
Fraud risk analysis is
an assessment of the likelihood of a fraud being
committed, and what can and should be done about it and whether
that
action is commercial. |
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Identity Theft |
Identity theft or
identity fraud is the act of assuming someone else's identity
for the purpose of financially benefiting from the use of that
name. |
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Internet Frauds |
Internet fraud is
fraud committed against people over the Internet, either started
through email communications, or using real or false Internet
pages. |
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Inventory Fraud |
Inventory fraud is the
misappropriation of inventory items by an employee from an
employer. |
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Land Sale Fraud |
Land Sale fraud is a
fraud related to the purchase or the sale of real property. |
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Leasing Fraud |
Asset leasing fraud is
fraud committed against finance companies by falsifying
application documentation. |
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Payroll Fraud |
This is fraud that
attacks the payroll system of a business that pays salaries and
wages, as well as claims for expense reimbursement. |
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Ponzi Frauds |
The name 'Ponzi
Scheme' has been given to investment frauds based on his system. |
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Profiling a Fraudster |
Occupational
fraudsters come in all shapes and sizes, but some people are
more prone to commit fraud than others. |
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Pyramid Schemes |
Pyramid schemes are investment schemes that people pay to enter the scheme and get paid for getting other people to enter the scheme. |
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Vendor Finance Fraud |
This is a fraud
committed by a purchaser of a property against the vendor by
manipulating a vendor finance arrangement. |