Expertise

The right process begins with the right diagnosis.

Nik is a Queensland-based insolvency practitioner with 17 years’ experience across retail, hospitality, building and construction, manufacturing, real estate, professional services and other industries.

Formal processes are tools, not outcomes: the first task is to understand the position, the available time and what each stakeholder is trying to achieve.

Small business restructuring

When it may be relevant

A formal, lower-cost restructuring process for an eligible small business that is viable but cannot meet its debts as they fall due.

What an early discussion clarifies

Eligibility, tax and employee obligations, funding, creditor position and whether the proposed plan can be delivered.

Read the guide

Matter experience

Advisers reviewing cash flow information in a tile wholesaling showroom and warehouse.

Matter snapshot

A viable tile wholesaler dealing with legacy debt

A tile-importing and wholesaling business had returned to profitable trading after several difficult years, but still carried $600,000 of legacy debt: $500,000 to the ATO and $100,000 to trade suppliers. Current cash flow supported future operations, but not a conventional repayment plan.

Without a restructure, the illustration assumes the $500,000 ATO balance is amortised over 24 months at 11% per annum and the $100,000 supplier balance is repaid evenly over the same period.
The restructuring proposal offered creditors $250,000 over 24 months, with no interest charged under the proposal.
On those assumptions, the monthly cash requirement fell from approximately $27,471 to $10,417—a reduction of approximately $17,054 each month.
The proposal addressed legacy debt while allowing a currently profitable business to keep trading and meet its ongoing obligations.

24-month cash-flow comparison

Without SBR	With SBR
Monthly instalment$27,471	Monthly instalment$10,417
Total payments over 24 months$659,294	Total payments over 24 months$250,000
Interest included$59,294	Interest included$0
Debt compromised$0	Debt compromised$350,000
Total cash-flow saving—	Total cash-flow saving$409,294

The comparison assumes 24 equal monthly payments, an 11% nominal annual rate compounded monthly on the ATO balance, no interest on the supplier balance, and no fees, penalties or timing differences. Actual ATO interest is calculated under the applicable rules and rates.

This is past matter experience, not a guaranteed outcome. Every appointment depends on its facts, statutory framework and creditor decisions.

ATO debt and Director Penalty Notice

When it may be relevant

Where overdue tax, poor lodgment compliance, a statutory demand or a Director Penalty Notice creates both company and personal exposure.

What an early discussion clarifies

The debt and lodgment position, the notice type and deadline, company viability, director exposure and which corporate or personal pathway requires immediate assessment.

Explore this area Read the guide

Early action framework

A director and adviser reviewing financial records and an urgent company tax position.

Decision framework

A DPN changes the personal risk, not just the company debt

The company’s ATO balance, reporting history and any notice already issued need to be assessed together. A payment arrangement may affect collection, but it does not by itself establish company viability or determine the director’s personal position.

Confirm the precise liabilities, reporting dates, notice issue date, delivery address and remaining statutory time.
Distinguish the company’s ATO debt and options from the director’s personal DPN position.
Assess whether a sustainable payment arrangement, SBR, voluntary administration or liquidation fits the company’s present economics.
Identify where separately retained legal, tax or personal insolvency advice is required for the director.
Preserve documents and deadlines without suggesting that any corporate process guarantees a personal outcome.

This framework is general information only. A Director Penalty Notice is deadline-sensitive and requires advice on the actual notice, reporting history, legislation and evidence.

Voluntary administration

When it may be relevant

Where a company needs immediate protection and an independent assessment of whether a deed, sale or other outcome may serve creditors better than liquidation.

What an early discussion clarifies

Urgency, available funding, trading, security, sale options, director objectives and the evidence needed for a credible proposal.

Read the guide

Matter experience

An operating manufacturing facility with an active production line and workers in the distance.

Matter snapshot

A purchaser-funded DOCA preserved a manufacturing business

A mid-sized manufacturer entered voluntary administration with approximately $2 million of debt. The director did not propose a deed. Instead, the administrators conducted an expression-of-interest campaign to test the market for the operating business.

The campaign produced a purchaser who wanted to acquire control of the company rather than buy isolated assets.
The purchaser proposed and funded a deed of company arrangement, with the contribution assessed against fair market value and the estimated return from liquidation.
Under the deed, the purchaser contribution was distributed to participating creditors in full and final settlement of their claims, subject to the deed terms, and control of the company changed.
The agreed structure preserved the operating business and dozens of jobs while addressing the employee obligations identified in the transaction.
Creditors received a better estimated outcome than an immediate shutdown, which would have crystallised substantial employee claims and reduced value for secured and unsecured creditors.

This is past matter experience, not a guaranteed outcome. Every appointment depends on its facts, statutory framework and creditor decisions.

Liquidation

When it may be relevant

Where a company is insolvent and an orderly wind-up, investigation and distribution process is required.

What an early discussion clarifies

Appointment route, assets, employees, secured creditors, director exposure, records and immediate preservation issues.

Read the guide

Matter experience

A closed café with chairs neatly placed and an apron and keys resting on the counter.

Matter snapshot

An orderly exit ended a cycle of personal funding

A café in Cleveland had been supported by hundreds of thousands of dollars of the owner's personal funds through several difficult years. Competition constrained pricing, the landlord could not support a restructure, and the owner had not paid herself for more than six months.

The café had been marketed for sale for 12 months, but the asking price remained above what buyers were prepared to pay.
A director penalty notice created a point at which further delay could materially worsen the owner's position.
Liquidation stopped further trading losses and provided an orderly process for employees, suppliers, tax obligations and remaining assets.
The appointment prevented the owner from continuing to fund an unsustainable position and allowed the remaining personal exposure to be addressed.
The owner moved into paid employment, regained certainty of income and experienced substantial relief from the ongoing financial and operational stress. She is now considering a new venture from a more stable position.

This is past matter experience, not a guaranteed outcome. Every appointment depends on its facts, statutory framework and creditor decisions.

Bankruptcy & personal insolvency

When it may be relevant

Where personal liabilities, guarantees or business failure require assessment by a registered bankruptcy trustee.

What an early discussion clarifies

Assets, income, creditors, guarantees, antecedent transactions and how personal and corporate issues connect.

Read the guide

Matter experience

A well-kept family home in a leafy Brisbane suburb at early morning.

Matter snapshot

A Part X proposal preserved the family home

Following the failure of a company, its director faced approximately $400,000 of personal liabilities arising from supplier and business guarantees. He owned half of the family home, with his equitable interest assessed at approximately $150,000.

In bankruptcy, the interest in the home would have been available to the trustee. A sale process, realisation costs and the costs of administering the bankruptcy would have reduced the net amount available to creditors and placed the family home at risk.
A Part X personal insolvency agreement proposed a total contribution of $150,000 over 12 months: $100,000 paid upfront with family assistance, followed by $50,000 from the director's income.
The income component equated to approximately $4,167 per month for 12 months. The total offer represented 37.5 cents for each dollar of the $400,000 creditor pool before administration costs.
The controlling trustee's comparison showed that the proposal was expected to produce a greater return than bankruptcy after allowing for the costs of selling the property and administering the bankruptcy.
Creditors accepted the proposal. Completion of the agreed contributions preserved the family home while delivering creditors the stronger assessed outcome.

This is past matter experience, not a guaranteed outcome. Every appointment depends on its facts, statutory framework and creditor decisions.

Independent appointments

When it may be relevant

Where creditors or stakeholders require an experienced independent practitioner to preserve value, investigate or oversee an agreed process.

What an early discussion clarifies

Authority, objective, information access, control, funding, reporting and the duties attached to the proposed role.

Read the guide

Matter experience

An elevated view of a portfolio of modern industrial warehouses and logistics properties.

Matter snapshot

Replacement trustee over a $60 million industrial portfolio

Nik was appointed replacement trustee of a unit trust following a dispute among three sophisticated unitholders. The trust controlled an industrial property portfolio valued at approximately $60 million, and the parties had made competing allegations of misconduct.

The role required the portfolio to be managed and its income preserved while the underlying dispute remained active.
A coordinated sale process was developed for the industrial properties, with agents, tenants, advisers and unitholders managed through one independent channel.
Forensic analysis tested the competing allegations and established an evidence base for commercial discussions.
Negotiations among the three unitholders were facilitated alongside the property sales rather than allowing the dispute to fragment the process.
The combined management, investigation, sale and settlement strategy produced a stronger overall return to the unitholders than a disorderly, dispute-led process was expected to achieve.

This is past matter experience, not a guaranteed outcome. Every appointment depends on its facts, statutory framework and creditor decisions.

The first conversation

You do not need a complete file to ask the first useful question.

A broad outline is enough: the entity or person involved, the immediate issue, who is advising, and any deadline or enforcement action. Do not send confidential records or sensitive documents until the appropriate engagement and secure channel are confirmed.

What has changed?
What must happen next?
Who is affected?
Which deadline is real?

Start the conversation

Start with the position, not the process.

Do not send sensitive documents through the initial enquiry. A brief outline and any immediate deadline are enough.

Discuss a matter