Your Directors Advocate

Your Directors Advocate Helping Directors and Small Business Owners navigate Liquidation and Bankruptcy

More than 3,000 small businesses used restructuring last year. Most directors have never heard of it.Small business rest...
09/09/2026

More than 3,000 small businesses used restructuring last year. Most directors have never heard of it.

Small business restructuring (SBR) is a formal process designed for smaller companies. In ASIC's figures, 3,031 companies used it in the 2025-26 financial year. It lets an eligible company keep trading, with the directors staying in control, while a restructuring practitioner helps put a debt proposal to creditors. If creditors accept, the company pays an agreed amount over time and continues on.

Broadly, a company needs total liabilities under $1 million, tax lodgments up to date and employee entitlements (including super) paid or provided for. Whether it suits your situation depends on the details, and it is not the right tool for everyone.

What this means for you:
➡️ Liquidation is not the only formal option on the table.
➡️ Staying in control of your company through the process is possible for eligible businesses. ➡️ Eligibility rewards keeping lodgments current, even when you can't pay in full.
➡️ An independent advocate can help you weigh SBR against the alternatives before you commit.

Curious whether restructuring could apply to you? Call 1300 851 775 or visit our website (link in comments).

❓ "I owe the ATO more than I can pay right now. Will they actually work with me?"✅ In many cases, yes. The ATO enters pa...
07/09/2026

❓ "I owe the ATO more than I can pay right now. Will they actually work with me?"

✅ In many cases, yes. The ATO enters payment plans with businesses every day, and being on one (and keeping to it) counts as engaging with them, which matters.

A few things worth knowing. Interest, called the general interest charge, keeps running on the balance and compounds daily, and since 1 July 2025 it is no longer tax deductible, so carrying ATO debt costs more than it used to. And if a business debt over $100,000 is more than 90 days overdue and you are not engaging, the ATO can disclose it to credit reporting bureaus, which affects your standing with suppliers and lenders. A payment plan you are keeping to prevents that.

The key is a plan you can actually sustain, not one that buys a quiet month and then falls over. That's where an independent look at your numbers first can help. Every situation is different.

Before you ring the ATO, talk it through with Cheryl. Call 1300 851 775 or visit our website (link in comments). First consultation free.

The earlier you act, the more options you have. Here are the signs worth acting on.Most directors we talk to say the sam...
04/09/2026

The earlier you act, the more options you have. Here are the signs worth acting on.

Most directors we talk to say the same thing: "I knew things were tight, but I thought I could trade my way out." Sometimes you can. But there are signs that mean it's time to get another set of eyes on the situation, not because you've failed, but because options close off the longer you wait.

Common ones: BAS or super falling behind while suppliers get paid first, using the ATO like a line of credit, borrowing to cover wages, dreading the mail and the phone, and not knowing your real position because looking feels too hard.

What this means for you:
➡️ None of these signs mean the business is finished. They mean it's time to look properly.
➡️ Acting early usually means more choices: payment plans, restructuring, or an orderly change of direction.
➡️ A confidential conversation costs nothing and commits you to nothing.

Call 1300 851 775 or visit our website (link in comments). The first consultation is free.

❓ "I've just been handed a director penalty notice. Am I personally liable now?"✅ Not automatically, but the clock has s...
02/09/2026

❓ "I've just been handed a director penalty notice. Am I personally liable now?"

✅ Not automatically, but the clock has started, so please don't put it in a drawer.

A director penalty notice (DPN) is the ATO's way of making a director personally responsible for certain company debts: unpaid PAYG withholding, GST or super. From the date on the notice you generally have 21 days.

If the company's lodgments were made on time (or within three months of the due date), you usually have options beyond just paying: appointing a small business restructuring practitioner, a voluntary administrator or a liquidator within those 21 days can remit the penalty. If lodgments were very late, the options narrow, which is one more reason to keep lodging even when you can't pay.

You are far from alone. The ATO issued more than 84,000 DPNs in the 2024-25 year, and the Tax Ombudsman is reviewing how they are used. Every situation is different, so get the notice looked at quickly.

If a DPN has landed on your desk, call Cheryl on 1300 851 775 for a free, confidential first chat, or visit our website (link in comments).

💰 PAYDAY SUPER IS 2 MONTHS OLD. HOW IS YOUR CASH FLOW HOLDING UP?Since 1 July, super has had to go out with every pay ru...
28/08/2026

💰 PAYDAY SUPER IS 2 MONTHS OLD. HOW IS YOUR CASH FLOW HOLDING UP?

Since 1 July, super has had to go out with every pay run instead of quarterly. For businesses that used the old quarterly rhythm as breathing room, that breathing room is gone.

If pay runs have started to feel tight, that is a signal worth listening to now, not in six months.

💡 Worth checking this week:
✔️ Is every pay run clearing comfortably, or are you juggling to cover it?
✔️ Are super contributions actually reaching funds on time?
✔️ Is the tightness a timing issue, or a sign of something deeper?

A cash flow squeeze caught early has many solutions. Caught late, it has few.

👉 If Payday Super has exposed a crack, let's look at it together before it widens.

📞 Call 1300 851 775 or visit our website (link in comments).

🛡️ WHERE DOES THE COMPANY END AND YOUR PERSONAL RISK BEGIN?Many directors assume the company structure fully protects th...
26/08/2026

🛡️ WHERE DOES THE COMPANY END AND YOUR PERSONAL RISK BEGIN?

Many directors assume the company structure fully protects their personal position. The reality is more nuanced, and better understood early.

💡 Worth knowing:
✔️ Some company debts can become personal (unpaid PAYG withholding, GST and super through director penalty notices)
✔️ Personal guarantees signed years ago, for suppliers, leases or finance, may still be live
✔️ How and when you act as a director affects your personal exposure

None of this is a reason for alarm. It is a reason for a health check: understanding your real position while everything is calm, so nothing about it can ambush you later.

👉 We offer exactly that: a straightforward review of where you stand, personally and as a company.

📞 Call 1300 851 775 or visit our website (link in comments).

❓ "I can't switch off. The business is the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing at night."✅ That ...
24/08/2026

❓ "I can't switch off. The business is the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing at night."

✅ That weight you are carrying is real, and you were never meant to carry it alone.

Financial pressure in a business does not stay in the office. It follows directors home, into their sleep, their health, their families. We see it every week, and we want you to hear this clearly: struggling with a business does not make you a failure. It makes you one of thousands of good operators in a tough stretch.

Two things help. Talking to someone you trust about how you are travelling. And getting a clear-eyed, independent picture of where the business actually stands, because uncertainty is usually heavier than the truth.

We can help with the second one, and the first gets easier once the fog lifts.

👉 One confidential conversation can take a surprising amount of weight off.

📞 Call 1300 851 775 or visit our website (link in comments).

⏳ THE COST OF WAITING - IT’S HIGHER THAN YOU THINKBusiness insolvencies in Australia have been running at elevated leve...
21/08/2026

⏳ THE COST OF WAITING - IT’S HIGHER THAN YOU THINK

Business insolvencies in Australia have been running at elevated levels this year. June 2026 was reported as the year's highest month.

Behind every one of those numbers is a director who, at some point, hoped things would come good on their own.

Sometimes they do. But while you wait:
• ATO debt quietly compounds
• Options like payment plans and restructuring narrow
• The stress load grows, and decision-making gets harder

Acting early is not admitting defeat. It is the thing that keeps the most doors open.

👉 If part of you has been thinking "I should talk to someone", this is your nudge. It costs nothing to have the initial conversation.

📞 Call 1300 851 775 or visit our website (link in comments).

❓ "Honestly, is it too late to save my business?"✅ In most cases we see, no. But the honest answer is: it depends on whe...
19/08/2026

❓ "Honestly, is it too late to save my business?"

✅ In most cases we see, no. But the honest answer is: it depends on when you ask.

Here is what we can tell you from experience. Directors almost always come to us later than they should, and almost never as late as they fear. The business that feels beyond saving at 2am often has real, workable options in the light of day.

Sometimes the answer is a turnaround. Sometimes a restructure. Sometimes the kindest path is a well-managed, dignified exit that protects you and your family. Every one of those is better than months more of white-knuckle uncertainty.

The only option we would steer you away from is waiting.

👉 Ask us the scary question. We will give you a straight, kind answer.

📞 Call 1300 851 775 or visit our website (link in comments). First consultation free.

🔧 YOU CAN RESTRUCTURE WITHOUT CLOSING THE DOORSMany directors think there are only two options: push through and hope, o...
17/08/2026

🔧 YOU CAN RESTRUCTURE WITHOUT CLOSING THE DOORS

Many directors think there are only two options: push through and hope, or shut everything down.

There is a third option - Small Business Restructuring. It lets eligible small businesses deal with their debts under a formal plan while the director stays in control and the business keeps trading.

💡 Why directors are using it:
✔️ You keep running the business day to day
✔️ Debts are dealt with in one structured plan rather than a dozen fires
✔️ It replaces the fear of "losing everything" with a defined process

It is not right for everyone, and eligibility rules apply. But knowing it exists changes how many options you really have.

👉 Want to know if restructuring could apply to your business? Ask us. No obligation, no pressure.

📞 Call 1300 851 775 or visit our website (link in comments).

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