The State of Insolvency in Australia – How the Australian States Went in 2013

With the 2013 Federal election fast approaching, could we see a positive turn in the tides for Australian insolvency cases. Here is how the states currently stand.

1. February 2013 saw a large jump in insolvencies – in part due to the ATO’s decision to ramp up enforcement activity in late 2012.
2. March 2013 saw a 4.6% decline in external administrations to 918 companies for the month.
3. 2,506 companies have gone into administration so far in 2013 – whereas 2,655 companies went into administration during the March 2012 quarter.
4. This means both 2012 and 2013 recorded far more administrations than for the same time for 2008 to 2011.
5. Court wind ups in Australia are down 36.8% on February.
6. Receivers and Managers Appointments increased 40.0% (mainly due to NSW’s 75.0% increase!).
7. State by State the numbers were mixed:
a. South Australia and New South Wales had increases of 36.4% and 5.0% respectively.
b. Victoria, Queensland, and WA all recorded reductions of between 16% (Vic and Qld) and 24.5% (WA).
8. New home sales continued a modest recovery, with HIA’s New Home Sales Report showing an increase of 4.2%.
9. The Westpac – Melbourne Institute Consumer sentiment index peaked at 110.5 in March – this is the highest level seen since 2010,, and reflects the current market sentiment that business confidence lifted marginally in March 2013.
10. Manufacturing and construction activity continued to decline and has been in contraction since February 2012, according to the AIG/CBA’s performance indices (Australian Industry Group/Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s Performance of Manufacturing Index).

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