Guide · credit risk
How to check if a company is in liquidation
Search ASIC's published notices, where external administration appointments and winding up applications are advertised, then check the company's status on ASIC's register and cross-check ABN Lookup for an active ABN and GST registration. All three are free, and together they give a reliable current picture.
Where to look, in order
- 1ASIC's published notices.Where appointments of external administrators, meetings of creditors and winding up applications are advertised. This is the fastest way to find out whether something formal has happened or is about to.
- 2ASIC's company register.Search by company name or ACN. A company in external administration is flagged on its record, and you can see officeholders and whether the company is still registered.
- 3ABN Lookup.Free and instant at abr.business.gov.au. Check whether the ABN is active and whether GST registration has been cancelled — a cancelled ABN or a lapsed GST registration is frequently an early public signal.
- 4A commercial credit report, if the exposure justifies it.Paid, and it shows payment behaviour, defaults, court actions and adverse data that the free registers do not. Worth it before extending significant terms.
- 5The National Personal Insolvency Index, for individuals.For sole traders and partners rather than companies. Searchable for a fee.
What the different appointments mean
| Appointment | What it means for you as a creditor |
|---|---|
| Voluntary administration | An administrator controls the company while an attempt is made to save it or achieve a better outcome than immediate liquidation. There may be a deed of company arrangement proposed, which you will vote on. |
| Liquidation | The company is being wound up and its assets realised. Lodge a proof of debt and expect a distribution only if there is something left after secured creditors, costs and employees. |
| Receivership | Appointed by a secured creditor over particular assets. Can run alongside administration or liquidation, and the receiver acts for the secured creditor rather than for creditors generally. |
| Small business restructuring | Directors stay in control while a plan to compromise debts is put to creditors. You will be asked to vote on it. How it works. |
| A winding up application | Not yet an appointment — a creditor has applied to court. Advertised publicly, with a hearing date. What it involves. |
General information about public registers and insolvency appointments, not legal advice.
The signs that come before the register
By the time anything is published, the people closest to the business have usually known for months. These are the signals that arrive first, and they are the ones worth acting on:
- Payments slowing, then part-payments, then silence.
- Disputes raised on invoices that were never queried before — a classic way of buying time.
- A change of accounts contact, or nobody answering the number that always worked.
- Requests to extend terms, or to move to end-of-quarter payment.
- Staff departures, quiet sites, cancelled orders, a sudden change in scope.
- A request to meet about "the relationship" with no other agenda.
What to do if you find something
- 1Stop extending further credit until you understand the position.Every additional delivery is additional exposure, and it will rank alongside everything else.
- 2Check the PPSR.If you supplied goods under retention of title, whether you registered a security interest — correctly and in time — decides whether you can claim the goods or merely join the queue.
- 3Get your documentation together.Contracts, purchase orders, invoices, delivery dockets, variations, and any personal guarantee you hold.
- 4Work out the forward exposure, not just the invoice.If this customer was a meaningful share of revenue, the hole next quarter is larger than the debt. Planning for that.
- 5Take advice on anything with a deadline.Security of payment claims, PPSR positions and creditor votes all run on timeframes that do not wait.
If the number was not the whole problem
Nobody checks a customer for no reason. If you are here, something has already made you uneasy — and if that customer is a material part of your revenue, the exposure is bigger than the invoice.
If you are reading this because money is tight, it may be that what you actually need is fast business finance — and HomeSec can lend with very few qualification criteria. All you need is sufficient equity in real estate and a business purpose: no financials, no valuation, no credit score threshold, funded in as little as 24 hours from a clean, complete scenario. Best of all, the first six months can come with no requirement to make any payment.
That's the HomeSec Advantage.
Questions people ask alongside this one
How do I check if a company is in liquidation?
Search ASIC's published notices, which is where external administration appointments, meetings of creditors and winding up applications are advertised. Then check ASIC's company register, where a company's status will show as under external administration, and cross-check ABN Lookup to see whether the ABN and GST registration are still active. All three are free to search.
What is the difference between administration, liquidation and receivership?
Voluntary administration is an attempt to save the company or get a better result than immediate liquidation, with an administrator in control. Liquidation winds the company up and realises its assets. Receivership is appointed by a secured creditor over particular assets and can run alongside either. Small business restructuring is a fourth process in which directors stay in control. The appointment notice will say which one applies.
What are the warning signs before any of this appears on a register?
Payments slowing and then stopping. Disputes raised on invoices that were never queried before. A change of accounts contact or a sudden inability to reach anyone. Requests to vary terms. Staff departures. Quiet on site. A director asking for a meeting about the relationship. By the time something is published, these have usually been visible for months.
Can I check a sole trader or partnership the same way?
Not through ASIC's company register, because they are not companies. For an individual, the National Personal Insolvency Index is the equivalent register for bankruptcies and personal insolvency agreements, and it is searchable for a fee. ABN Lookup will still show whether the ABN is active.
What should I do if I find something?
Stop extending further credit until you understand the position, check whether you registered a security interest on the PPSR over any goods you supplied, get your documentation in order, and take advice. Acting in the first week is worth far more than acting in the fourth.
Will I get paid?
As an unsecured creditor, usually little and slowly. Secured creditors are paid first from their security, then the administrator's costs, then employee entitlements, then unsecured creditors share what remains. Lodge your proof of debt properly regardless — a well-documented claim is not a guarantee, but a poorly documented one reliably gets nothing.
Should I be checking customers routinely?
Yes, and most businesses only start after they have been burned. Credit-check new customers before extending terms, set credit limits and enforce them, and re-check the largest ones periodically. The cost of a credit check is trivial against a single bad debt, and the discipline of having limits is worth more than the checks themselves.
What if the customer that failed was a large part of my revenue?
Then the bad debt is the smaller problem and the forward revenue is the larger one. That is worth planning for immediately rather than after the administrator reports — our page on a customer going into administration sets out the sequence.
Sixty seconds, no documents
See if you qualify in sixty seconds
Three short questions, no credit check to apply and no financial statements. A Lending Manager reads it and calls you back with a real answer — not a call centre, not an algorithm.
That's the HomeSec Advantage.
Other things business owners look up
Find your director IDFind your ABN or ACNFind your company's TFNFind your ATO payment referenceIf your ABN is cancelledSet up an ATO payment planWhat a caveat on a title meansWhat LVR means, with examplesGet a copy of your rates noticeGet a mortgage payout figureDo you qualify?Do you need financials?How long it takesSecured vs unsecuredNo credit check, honestlyWhat a business is worthSmall business restructuringEvery guide
Reviewed by Jason Brockmuller, Joint Chief Executive