The Australian Securities & Investments Commission has published its first detailed review of how voluntary administrations and deeds of company arrangement operate in practice, based on 3,528 grouped appointments covering 5,020 companies that entered voluntary administration between 1 July 2021 and 30 June 2025. The review shows that voluntary administration and DOCAs remain a restructuring tool primarily for larger and more complex insolvencies, with 44% of appointments entering a DOCA, 50% moving to voluntary liquidation and 6% to court liquidation. The data indicates that DOCA outcomes were much more common in larger cases. Around half of appointments that reached a second creditors' meeting included a DOCA proposal, and 87% of those proposals were accepted by creditors. Appointments involving more than AUD 10 million in liabilities resulted in an approved DOCA in about 48.3% of cases, compared with 15.4% for appointments involving AUD 1 to AUD 250,000 in liabilities. Nearly half of approved DOCAs involved the business continuing to trade after execution, while 22% involved a business or asset sale. Among finalised DOCAs, 81% were wholly effectuated, and almost 90% of those paid a dividend to unsecured creditors, with an average return of 21 cents in the dollar and a median of 11.5 cents. For smaller businesses, the review found the process was less likely to produce a DOCA, with most appointments involving liabilities below AUD 1 million ending in liquidation without a DOCA proposal. Alongside the report, ASIC released a supporting data pack with aggregate data that can be filtered by company industry, size and appointment outcomes. ASIC positioned the publication as part of its broader effort to provide more granular insight into how Australia's insolvency system is operating.
Australian Securities & Investments Commission2026-07-07
Australian Securities & Investments Commission publishes first detailed review of voluntary administrations showing 44% enter DOCAs and stronger use in larger cases
The Australian Securities & Investments Commission has issued its first detailed review of voluntary administrations and deeds of company arrangement, based on 5,020 companies entering voluntary administration from 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2025. It found that 44% of appointments entered a DOCA and that larger, more complex cases were far more likely to do so than smaller businesses. ASIC also released a supporting data pack on insolvency outcomes.