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The Liquidator will:

1. Sell any available assets 
2. Investigate Company affairs
3. Report the findings of the investigation to to ASIC
4. Distribute any monies remaining after the costs of the Liquidation to creditors

Secured creditors and employees are commonly first priority, if there are sufficient funds for a dividend. Then the ‘unsecured’ remaining creditors share the balance. If acts requiring litigation are identified  from the investigations, these can be performed by the liquidator. 

Commonly the answer is yes. When a company finds itself in financial difficulty, the Liquidator is appointed to evaluate their assets and put them up for sale. This allows interested parties the ability to buy not only the physical business assets, but intangible items too. 

These can include:

• Customer lists
• Telephone numbers
• Website domain names

If the business has no value, such as in circumstances where the company has traded off the director’s personal network, the liquidator may have difficulty. As your insolvency practitioner, I’ll be able to provide more guidance on your individual circumstances.

A Liquidator is tasked with informing all creditors of the current status and liaising with parties who have registered a Personal Properties and Securities Interest (PPSR) against the Company. 

The finance company will respond with the loan documents and payout, which the Liquidator will compare against a valuation of the vehicle/asset. If there is equity, then the Liquidator can realise that and you can come to an alternate arrangement with the financier. 

However, if there is no equity, the Liquidator will ‘disclaim’ the finance contract as onerous, which terminates the contract, allowing repossession of the asset by the financier. Related parties are sometimes allowed to assume or continue the finance separate to the Liquidated company, but it is up to the financier’s discretion whether they allow it or not. 

Usually, the director is a guarantor and is therefore liable for any deficiency. Therefore, I recommend you personally reach out to the financier and confirm their intended approach. Unfortunately, liquidators can’t help with this because there is too great a risk of conflicting themselves from completing the liquidation.

Unfortunately, it’s hard to say without knowing your circumstances. However, I know this is an important consideration and will do my best to give you a ballpark answer. 

For very simple liquidations such as for companies that have no assets and no recovery actions are identified, 3-4 months would be a minimum timeframe. Larger and Complex liquidations can take years to complete if there are actions taken by a Liquidator.

Employees who have lost their job due to their employer’s insolvency can access the government’s safety net scheme. This covers all entitlements (up to caps), excluding superannuation. At ACRIS, we help former employees gain access to the scheme and help calculate the amount owed to them to help speed up their payment.

As a solo practitioner with no overheads, I charge my time at $340 plus GST per hour. That is at least half the rate of my competitors, and it usually costs $10,000, plus GST of time for me to complete a simple CVL. 

Many larger competitors quote $5,000 to “start” a simple CVL. I urge you to be wary of these low figures, because the maths simply doesn’t equate. Offices and teams also come with higher overheads like leases and employee wages, which all need to be paid somehow. So, if they are offering cut prices, they usually have a plan to get paid through threatening litigation. 

At ACRIS,  I provide a written quotation and I never ask for indemnification from directors for costs incurred above the quoted amount for insolvency matters. That means I’ll absorb the cost of any work that is required beyond the scope of the quote. 

To protect myself, and to allow me to offer such affordable pricing, my only caveat is that I require upfront payment if there are not enough assets to cover my fees.