Articles
Plain-English guides for Australian business owners on financial health, insolvency risk, and what to do when the warning signs start to appear.
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Is my business in financial trouble?
The early warning signs Australian small businesses show before things get serious — late supplier payments, growing ATO debt, and what each signal means.
Read article →Safe harbour provisions in Australia, explained
A high-level overview of what the safe harbour provisions broadly are and why they exist, with a clear steer towards getting professional advice for your own situation.
Read article →Is my company trading while insolvent?
What insolvent trading means, the cash-flow and balance-sheet tests for solvency, the personal exposure directors carry, and why early advice is the safe move if in doubt.
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What happens when a business can't pay its debts
A plain-English walkthrough of the formal process, from informal workouts and voluntary administration to a DOCA, liquidation, and what it means for directors.
Read article →The ATO debt spiral
How ATO debt compounds through GIC and SIC, what a director penalty notice means, and the difference between a payment plan that fixes the problem and one that just buys time.
Read article →How much debt is too much for a small business?
There is no single safe number. What matters is whether you can service the debt from cash flow and how it sits against your assets — a plain-English way to think about it.
Read article →Am I personally liable for company debt?
Limited liability is the general rule, but personal guarantees, director penalty notices, and insolvent trading are the exceptions that can make a director personally liable.
Read article →How to respond to a director penalty notice
A director penalty notice is urgent: act now, do not ignore it, and get advice straight away. A plain-English guide to standard and lockdown notices and the 21-day clock.
Read article →What happens to directors in liquidation?
What happens to directors during and after a liquidation, and the rules and realities around being a director again afterwards — explained in plain English.
Read article →Statutory demand: what to do
What a statutory demand is, the strict 21-day window, your options to pay, negotiate or apply to set aside, and the presumption of insolvency that follows if it is ignored.
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