Creators of ASIC’s ROCAP documents describe their process

 Creators of ASIC’s ROCAP documents describe their process  ASIC, Corporate Insolvency, External administration, Forms, Insolvency Law, Insolvency practices, Regulation  Comments Off on Creators of ASIC’s ROCAP documents describe their process
Jun 212019
 

Creators of ASIC’s ROCAP documents describe their process

Soon after the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) issued a form titled “Report On Company Activities and Property“ (ROCAP), the creators of the form – the Communications Research Institute (CRI) – published an article describing the process they went through, their standards and the results of tests carried out.

Form Design process

CRI form design procedure (Source: CRI)

The ROCAP – which replaced the Report as to Affairs (RATA) – is used in corporate insolvencies, where company directors are required to supply liquidators and other external administrators with details of a failed company’s present position, assets, liabilities and history.

Below is a copy of the article written in October 2018 by the head of CRI, Professor David Sless.

As the reader will see, CRI reports that “in the final round of testing (of the new form/documents) participants described the documents as ‘straightforward’ (and that) they easily followed both instructions and the related form-filling task.”

If that’s how the form and accompanying documents are received and processed in practice, it will be a welcome change. Because, by contrast, CRI says it found that “not a single director who participated in the CRI testing of the original RATA could use it appropriately”.

By now (June 2019) feedback to ASIC should indicate whether the new design developed by CRI has been a success, i.e., is regarded by directors and liquidators as more user-friendly and useful. CRI says that “once introduced, the forms and instructions will be carefully monitored and further refined or changed as needed.”

A NEW FORM HELPING FAILED COMPANIES
A Communications Research Institute (CRI) Model project

WHEN A COMPANY fails and an External Administrator is appointed, the Administrator sends a director of the company a form to complete by a set date. The form, known until now as the Report As To Affairs (RATA) had remained largely unchanged since the 19th century.  The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC), which issues the RATA under the Corporations Act 2001, contracted CRI to develop a new design that would be:

  • user friendly,
  • consistent and logical,
  • visually appealing,
  • easy to read an complete.

CRI drew on its extensive research and practice in forms design spanning over three decades.  CRI collaborated and consulted throughout the project with ASIC and a diverse group of professionals, academics, industry bodies, and former company directors, all of whom contributed to the design of the new form. 

External administrators, in particular, who were the main RATA users told us that it failed to provide them with adequate information on the companies they administered.  CRI, in consultation with ASIC determined that the needs of administrators had to be taken into account in the redesign.

Receiving the RATA is an unhappy and often traumatic experience for company directors.  It marks the end of the company’s life, handing over its remains and final fate to an External Administrator who disposes of it and its assets in the best interests of its creditors.  The feedback showed that in that handing over, filling out the RATA was itself traumatic.

Tellingly, not a single director who participated in the CRI testing of the original RATA could use it appropriately.

The redesign involved all aspects of the form’s structure, language, layout, colour and content, and a change of name from RATA to are more easily understood name: ROCAP – Report on Company Activities and Property.  CRI undertook three rounds of designing, testing, and consultation with ASIC and stakeholders, followed by redesign.

The result is a totally new set of three documents to replace the RATA: Part A contains most of the RATA questions but in a totally new format, Part B contains new questions about the company records, history and management, and the third document contains detailed instructions for completing Parts A and B….

The instructions … are designed to exactly complement the questions, using the same numbering system throughout.

Observations from previous research shows that form users avoid reading instructions on a form because they see the task is primarily a form-filling task rather than are reading-and-form-filling task.  In CRI’s designs, the instructions are always in a separate document, physically removed from the form filling tasks.

Careful design refinement of the navigation between the two documents as a result of testing enabled easy navigation between the two.  In the final round of testing, participants describe the document as “straightforward”. They easily followed both instructions and the related form-filling task.  The new design meets all CRI standards for good information design.

Once introduced, the forms and instructions will be carefully monitored and further refined or changed as needed.

Professor David Sless

Communication Research institute – October 2018

My previous posts on this subject are titled “Framework of new Report as to Affairs (RATA) drafted by ASIC” and “ASIC notifies liquidators that ROCAP is to replace RATA”. 

I plan to post more articles about the new form and documents.

Framework of new Report as to Affairs (RATA) drafted by ASIC

 ASIC, Checklists and guides, Corporate Insolvency, External administration, Forms, Insolvency Law, Insolvency practices, Regulation  Comments Off on Framework of new Report as to Affairs (RATA) drafted by ASIC
Oct 122018
 

On 1 October 2018 the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) released a draft of a new Report as to Affairs (commonly known as a RATA). A copy of this form, which includes detailed instructions, may be downloaded from my website or from this ASIC journal.

The new name of the report is to be Report On Company Activities and Property (ROCAP). ASIC intends releasing it in November 2018.

Analysis

Form apges

The following comments outline my preliminary analysis of the draft. Continue reading »

Regulating insolvency practitioners: what ASIC aims to achieve in 2016-17

 ASIC, Corporate Insolvency, External administrators, Regulation  Comments Off on Regulating insolvency practitioners: what ASIC aims to achieve in 2016-17
Dec 202016
 

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has a business plan to guide its regulation of insolvency practitioners. In 2016-17 two new projects have been added to the ongoing ones. Here is ASIC’s summary of the plan as published recently on its website …

2016-17 ASIC Business Plan Summary by Sector: Insolvency Practitioners

ASIC Key Projects

ASIC Focus
Stakeholder engagement
Communicating with industry and individual firms to reinforce and articulate standards and expectations (ongoing project) 		⚬ Communicating with stakeholders (e.g. through media releases, journal articles, ad-hoc bulletins, regular newsletters), including in relation to surveillance outcomes, to reinforce and articulate standards and expectations

⚬ Releasing key communications, such as:
– Annual report on supervision of registered liquidators
– Monthly insolvency statistics
– Annual report on insolvency statistics

⚬ Engaging with stakeholders, including meeting with individual firms and industry bodies (such as the Australian Restructuring, Insolvency and Turnaround Association (ARITA), Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, CPA Australia, and Australian Financial Security Authority, and other government agencies such as the Australian Taxation Office, Department of Employment and Fair Work Ombudsman

⚬ Participating in and contributing to the Phoenix Taskforce and the Serious Financial Crime Taskforce

Information for registered liquidators and other stakeholders (new project) ⚬ Working closely with industry to further develop guidance and lift standards of conduct

⚬ Reviewing existing ASIC guidance to reflect law reform and improving existing creditor and other stakeholder information published by ASIC

⚬ Reviewing and improving what information registered liquidators currently report to facilitate the assessment and, where appropriate, investigation of reports of alleged misconduct

Registered liquidators’ independence and remuneration (new project) ⚬ Independence (including referral relationships with pre-insolvency advisors) and remuneration (including adequacy of disclosure and reasonableness); anticipated to continue into 2017-18
Surveillance of high-risk registered liquidators (ongoing project) ⚬ Misconduct resulting from conflicts of interest, incompetence and improper gain
Ensuring compliance with statutory lodgements obligations and publication of notices requirements (ongoing project) ⚬ Reviewing registered liquidator outstanding statutory lodgements and publication of notices (including insolvency and external administration related notices) on the ASIC published notices website to identify systemic non-compliance
Lodgement of annual statements (ongoing project) ⚬ Reviewing all annual statements from registered liquidators to detect non-compliance with the requirements to maintain registration, including identification of potential competence concerns
Transactional reviews (ongoing project) ⚬ Undertaking reviews identified through referrals, and responding to identified concerns including:
– inappropriate relationships between registered liquidators and pre-insolvency advisers
– inadequate declarations of relevant relationships and indemnities
– inadequate remuneration disclosure
Investigate and where appropriate take administrative or court action (ongoing project) ⚬ Investigating and taking action against registered liquidator misconduct, as identified through surveillances and referrals
Policy advice
Support development and implementation of key Government law reforms and other initiatives (ongoing project) 		⚬ Advising Government on proposed insolvency reforms (including proposed reforms in the Government’s National Innovation and Science Agenda) and implementing the Insolvency Law Reform Act 2016, including engaging with Treasury, industry and professional bodies, introducing new guidance and implementing IT and business process changes

⚬ Delivering an enhanced ASIC Form 507 Report as to Affairs (RATA), including stakeholder consultation, to provide better information to facilitate the conduct of external administrations and improve reporting to creditors

⚬ Liaising with Treasury and industry/professional bodies regarding the Government’s proposals/reforms to facilitate corporate restructure (a ‘safe harbour’ and voiding of ipso facto clauses) from the Productivity Commission (in recommendations from its inquiry report into business set-up, transfer and closure) and the Government’s National Innovation and Science Agenda

Financial Systems Inquiry poses questions about insolvency regime

 Corporate Insolvency, Insolvency Law, Insolvency practices, Official Inquiries, Personal Bankruptcy, Practitioners Association (ARITA), Regulation  Comments Off on Financial Systems Inquiry poses questions about insolvency regime
Jul 172014
 

Is there evidence that Australia’s external administration regime causes otherwise viable businesses to fail and, if so, what could be done to address this?

This is the question being asked about external administrations in the Interim Report of the Financial System Inquiry (FSI) (July 2014). The FSI says it would value views on the costs, benefits and trade-offs of the following policy options or other alternatives:

  • No change to current arrangements.
  • Implement the 2012 proposals to reduce the complexity and cost of external administration for SMEs. [See below for details of these proposals.]

The brief section of the FSI’s report dealing with external administration may be viewed HERE.  (The full report in pdf format is available HERE.)

David Murray

David Murray, FSI chairman. Artwork from bluenotes.anz.com

US Chapter 11 regime?

Adoption by Australia of a US Chapter 11 style form of external administration could still be an option, although the FSI has already given it the thumbs down, as this extract from its interim report shows:

“The Inquiry considers adopting such a regime would be costly and could leave control in the hands of those who are often the cause of a company’s financial distress. Capital would be maintained in a business that is likely to fail, which would restrict or defer the capital from being channelled to more viable and productive enterprises. Adopting such a regime would also create more uncertainty for creditors by limiting their rights. The Inquiry notes that Chapter 11 has rarely enabled businesses to continue as going concerns in the long term. There is little empirical evidence that Australia’s voluntary administration process is causing otherwise viable businesses to fail. The Inquiry would like stakeholders to provide any empirical evidence that supports that view.”

Second round of submissions to FSI

Submissions in response to the Interim Report are due by 26 August 2014. Submissions can be lodged online using the Financial System Inquiry special facility,  or may be lodged by email or post: fsi@fsi.gov.au or Financial System Inquiry,  GPO Box 89,  Sydney NSW 2001.

Insolvency reform proposals of 2012

The 2012 insolvency reform proposals to which the FSI specifically refers in its request for second round submissions concern:

  1. Registration and discipline of insolvency practitioners (See note 1 at end of post for more information).
  2. Specific rules relating to external administrations (note 2).
  3. Regulator powers and miscellaneous amendments (note 3).

The Explanatory Material issued with the Insolvency Law Reform Bill  on 19 December 2012 can be viewed HERE.

“Thought leadership”

The Australian Restructuring Insolvency & Turnaround Association (ARITA) (previously known as the Insolvency Practitioners Association) says it has embarked on “a major project to drive thought leadership around our insolvency regime”.  It is asking insolvency practitioners who want to make a submission to FSI to work with the professional association:

“ARITA has embarked on a major project to drive thought leadership around our insolvency regime.  Along with some of ARITA’s excellent previous work, significant new work has already been completed and ARITA members will soon be asked for comment on key aspects of our policy positions. This work is, obviously, well timed to support the FSI request for submissions. ARITA will actively work to represent the views of its membership and the profession to the FSI. We would urge all members and their firms to work with ARITA on providing strong and consistent representation to the FSI. If you or your firm is looking at making its own submission, please let ARITA know so that we can collaborate with you.”  ARITA Press Release 15/7/2014

NOTES re Proposals in December 2012 Insolvency Reform Bill:

Note 1: Registration and discipline of insolvency practitioners

Common rules regarding:   the physical registers of insolvency practitioners;  registration and disciplinary Committees.

Note 2: Specific rules relating to external administrations

Common rules regarding: •

  • Remuneration and other benefits received by the insolvency  practitioner;
  • The handling of administration or estate funds;
  • The provision of information by insolvency practitioners during an external administration or bankruptcy;
  • The meetings of creditors during an external administration or bankruptcy;
  • Committee of inspection formed as part of an external administration or bankruptcy; and
  • The external review of the administration of an estate or insolvency.

Note 3, part (a): Regulator powers and miscellaneous amendments

Provide ASIC with further powers to assist it in its oversight of the regulation of registered liquidators. In particular, the Bill amends the ASIC Act to:

  • enable ASIC to require the provision of information and books as part of an ASIC proactive surveillance program;
  • enable ASIC to provide administration information to a person with a material interest in the information; and
  • improve the transparency of ASIC oversight of the corporate insolvency industry.

Note 3, part (b): Regulator powers and miscellaneous amendments

Amend the Bankruptcy Act to enable ITSA to provide information relevant to the administration of the corporate law to ASIC.

Note 3, part (c): Regulator powers and miscellaneous amendments

A range of miscellaneous amendments, including:

  • amending the Acts to strengthen the penalties for breach of a bankrupt’s or directors’ obligations to provide a report as to affairs (RATA), or the books of the company, to an insolvency practitioner;
  • amend the Corporations Act to provide a process for the automatic disqualification of directors that have failed to provide a RATA, or the books of the company, to a registered liquidator until they have complied with those obligations; and
  • amend the Acts to enable the assignment of an insolvency practitioner’s statutory rights of actions.

What do ASIC’s Enforcement Outcomes reports mean?

 ASIC, Corporate Insolvency, Insolvency Statistics, Offences, Regulation, White collar crime  Comments Off on What do ASIC’s Enforcement Outcomes reports mean?
Jul 262013
 

An Enforcement Outcomes report has been issued by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) for the six months from January to June 2013 (Report 360).

It is the fourth of its type since ASIC abandoned its Prosecution Reports. But unlike those reports – upon which I based my paper, “Convictions for summary insolvency offences committed by company directors” , a detailed comparison of prosecution outcomes over the years 2006 to 2010, including the sections of the Corporations Act under which enforcement action was taken and the fines imposed – the new Enforcement Outcomes reports provide far less information.

In the part of the  latest Enforcement Outcomes report that mentions summary insolvency offences, the reader is simply told that:

“As part of our liquidator assistance program, 249 directors were successfully prosecuted for summary offences concerning a failure to assist an external administrator.” (paragraph 86)

Similar brief references are made in the three previous reports.

So what, if anything, do these limited figures say?

About all we can do is compare the latest figure with those from the previous 18 month period.

In the six months  from July to December 2012 the comparative number of directors successfully prosecuted under the liquidator assistance program was 275. (Report 336, paragraph 91.)

Further comparisons with the two earlier Enforcement Outcomes reports might not be all that meaningful, because those reports give figures on summary “proceedings against” directors rather than the current classification of “successful prosecutions” against directors.  That said, the reports for the six months to June 2012 and for the first six months (to December 2011), put the figures at 196 and 208 respectively  (see Report 299, paragraph 48 and Report 281, paragraph 39 )

But according to ASIC, readers need to be cautious when making comparisons of such data. The Enforcement Outcomes report 360 states (at paragraph 18):

“Comparisons between individual enforcement reports have some limitations. This is because no two enforcement actions are the same. For example, there may be differences in the complexity or seriousness of the allegations. However, over a two-year period, it is possible to identify the types of conduct or sectors that are the focus of ASIC’s enforcement activity in the longer term.”

This statement – minus the final sentence – was also used in the Media Release that accompanied the report.

All about the Report As To Affairs in corporate insolvency

 ASIC, Corporate Insolvency, Insolvency Law, Insolvency practices, Regulation  Comments Off on All about the Report As To Affairs in corporate insolvency
Jul 112012
 

The corporate regulator may not care much about it but liquidators do, and they want some changes made.

The Report as to Affairs (RATA) is a form which is prepared for the purpose of showing the financial  position of a company at commencement of its entry into liquidation, controllership or  administration.

Between November 2011 and March 2012, and with support from a scholarship administered by the Insolvency Practitioners Association of Australia (IPA),  I carried out extensive research into the RATA, including a random survey of 105 official liquidators.

My research paper is now available from the IPA or from the Centre for Corporate Law and Securities Regulation.

Titled “An Appraisal of the Report as to Affairs”, the paper is a report on the written survey of official liquidators concerning the Report as to Affairs form and associated compliance issues.  The report also examines the history and purpose of the Report as to Affairs, laws which impose duties to submit the form, and ideas for change.

The paper concludes with several recommendations and observations, including the following:

“This survey of liquidators has brought to light substantial criticisms and concerns  about the RATA and a desire for change.  It coincides with moves towards  harmonisation of personal and corporate insolvency regulation, and with the start of  the Personal Property Securities Act, which makes significant changes to priority  rules for secured parties as well as introducing a new vocabulary.  All this suggests  that it’s time the RATA form was revisited and overhauled.    The ASIC should make the RATA the subject of an inquiry through a Consultative  Paper …. The ultimate aims of the consultation would be to produce a new or redesigned form, a  Regulatory Guide to the form, and an information sheet for directors.  The inquiry  should consider, for example, what constitutes an acceptable standard for a RATA –  i.e., when does a professed RATA qualify as a valid RATA – and how the receipt of a  RATA that fails to meet that standard should be handled.”

Appended to the main research report is a supplement which reproduces verbatim all the ideas, suggestions and comments made by liquidators concerning what is wrong with the present RATA and how it could be improved.

Thanks to Professor Ian Ramsay, of Melbourne University, who is Director of the Centre for Corporate Law and Securities Regulation, the full research paper appears in SAI Global Corporate Law Bulletin No. 178.  A copy of the paper (including the annexures) is available as one pdf file from http://cclsr.law.unimelb.edu.au/files/The_RATA_-_research_paper_-_Keenan_-_2012_-_IPA_TTS.pdf

A shortened version of the paper appears in the latest edition of the Australian Insolvency Journal , which is published by the IPA (see Volume 24 Number 2, pages 10 to 23).  The link to that version is  http://www.ipaa.com.au/default.asp?menuid=319&artid=1157

I am indebted to Michael Murray, Legal Director of the IPA, who vetted the research paper and edited the version that appears in the Australian Insolvency Journal.  It was as a result of his enthusiasm and status in insolvency law circles that Professor Ian Ramsay took an interest in the paper and had it published by the Centre for Corporate Law and Securities Regulation. Michael has also forwarded the paper to the ASIC, ITSA and relevant government departments.

Questions concerning new power for winding up by ASIC

 ASIC, Corporate Insolvency, Insolvency Laws, Insolvency practices, Regulation  Comments Off on Questions concerning new power for winding up by ASIC
Feb 272012
 

New laws have been drafted to give the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) power to wind up companies.  But what mode of winding up will these liquidations be? Creditors’ voluntary liquidation, or failed members’ voluntary liquidation?  And will there be any requirement  that directors prepare a statement of assets and liabilities?

 The focus in this post is on a proposed new section of the Corporations Act 2001, namely section 489EB —  “Deemed resolution that company be wound up voluntarily”.

The section seems, at the beginning, to be proposing that the winding up proceed  as a creditors’ voluntary winding up.  Subsections 489EB(a) and (b) state:

“(a) the company is taken to have passed a special resolution under section 491 that the company be wound up voluntarily; and

(b) the company is taken to have passed the special resolution:

(i) at the time when ASIC made the order under section 489EA; and

(ii) without a declaration having been made and lodged under section 494; ”

In other words, it is deemed to be a creditors’ voluntary liquidation because the deemed resolution to wind up the company is deemed to have not been accompanied by a declaration of solvency under section 494. 

But then in subsection 489EB(c) reference is made to section 496: a section that only applies where a declaration of solvency has been made under section 494.

Section 496 – Duty of liquidator where company turns out to be insolvent – applies in a members’ voluntary liquidation.  But how could section 496 have any application?

To me the reference to section 496 seems to be in direct conflict with (proposed) subsections 489EB(a) and (b).

If section 496 does somehow have some application as (proposed) section 489EB(c) seems to suggest, then it would appear that the winding up by the ASIC is to be a members’ voluntary winding up where a company turns out to be insolvent.

If section 496 (for members’ voluntary liquidations) does apply, then section 496(2) – notice to creditors, section 496(4) – liquidator to lay before meeting a statement of assets and liabilities, and section 496(5) – replacement of liquidator, and the other subsections in 496, would be brought into play, wouldn’t they?  Is this intentional or are these oversights or unintended consequences?

If section 496 is to have some application in a winding up by the ASIC, does that mean that the liquidator may choose a path other than the winding up of the company? I ask this because section 496(1) gives the liquidator the option to apply under section 459P for the company to be wound up in insolvency, or appoint an administrator of the company under section 436B, or convene a meeting of the company’s creditors?  Is this intentional or are these oversights or unintended consequences?

If the winding up is a creditors’ voluntary winding up, then it appears that — unlike in an ordinary creditor’ voluntary winding up — there will be no requirement of directors to submit a Report as to Affairs (RATA).  This is so because the section that does require a RATA  from the directors — section 497(5) — seems, along with all other parts of section 497,  to have been made inapplicable by the following words of  (proposed) subsection 489EB(d), “section 497 is taken to have been complied with in relation to the winding up”. 

The same would be true of section 497(2)(b)(i), which requires the liquidator to send creditors a summary of affairs (Form 509).  It too would be “taken to have been complied with in relation to the winding up”. 

Which suggests that when a company is wound up by the ASIC there will be no requirement on the part of directors to prepare and submit a statement about the company’s business, property, affairs and financial circumstances.

This seems strange given that in the other two types of insolvent winding up – court-ordered winding up and creditors’ voluntary winding up– such a statement is required. Is this an oversight or an  unintended consequence?

Also, the removal of a duty to do a RATA would be extraordinary when liquidators say – as made clear in my recent IPA sponsored survey of official liquidators  – that a RATA from directors is a very valuable tool for the efficient conduct of a winding up.

This is all that the official Explanatory Memorandum says about proposed section 489EB:

“If ASIC exercises its powers to wind up a company under the new law, the company is deemed to have passed a special resolution under existing section 491 of the Corporations Act that the company be wound up voluntarily.  The resolution is deemed to have been made on the day that ASIC uses its administrative power to order the winding up and does not require a declaration of solvency to have been made under existing section 494 of the Corporations Act.  A meeting of creditors under existing subsection 497(1) of the Corporations Act is not required where the winding up has been ordered by ASIC.  “

The peculiar phrase “The resolution … does not require a declaration of solvency to have been made under existing section 494” suggest to me a lack of understanding of the law. 

And the reference to subsection 497(1) is odd given that the proposed law refers to section 497 as a whole, not just subsection 497(1).  Has there been a mistake in drafting subsection 489EB(d)? Should it refer more narrowly to subsection 497(1) rather than to the whole section?