Australian directors: compare small-business restructuring advisers

Compare these firms by their stated scope, location and engagement information, but verify the proposed individual on ASIC’s register and obtain written terms before making an appointment.[1][4]

How Stonegate Legal, O’Brien Palmer and Boss Lawyers compare

Stonegate Legal

• Service scope: Its page discusses eligibility, plan investigation, creditor voting, personal guarantees, director penalties, PPSR registrations, leases, pending proceedings and comparisons with likely liquidation returns. It describes the practitioner’s verification as reasonable inquiry rather than an audit or guarantee.[6]
• Location: The page addresses restructuring in Australia.[6]
• Engagement information: Obtain a written scope and quote covering the commercial terms.

O’Brien Palmer

• Service scope: Its page covers eligibility review, financial position, cash-flow budgets, future viability, plan formulation, creditor notices, debt disputes and implementation.[7]
• Location: The cited page does not state its city or state service area.[7]
• Engagement information: O’Brien Palmer invites prospective clients to a confidential conversation.[7]

Boss Lawyers

• Service scope: Its page says the firm advises directors, creditors and business owners about restructuring and related insolvency options.[8]
• Location: Boss Lawyers identifies a Brisbane base and Queensland focus.[8]
• Engagement information: The firm offers an obligation-free discussion.[8]

These pages provide no sound basis for ranking the firms by price, speed or results. A consultation invitation is not evidence of free substantive work, favourable terms or likely creditor acceptance.[6][7][8]

First confirm statutory restructuring is suitable

Statutory small-business restructuring applies to eligible incorporated companies, not individuals or unincorporated businesses.[2][7] It is different from an informal turnaround or advisory engagement.

The restructuring practitioner acts as the company’s agent and adviser but does not take over day-to-day management. Directors retain control, subject to practitioner consent for dealings outside the ordinary course of business.[1]

The board must resolve that, in the opinion of the directors voting, the company is insolvent or likely to become insolvent at a future time and that a restructuring practitioner should be appointed. The appointment must be in writing.[1]

Apply the eligibility gate before commissioning a plan

ASIC says eligibility is tested on the day the restructuring practitioner is appointed. Total company liabilities must not exceed A$1 million.[1] Have the proposed practitioner reconcile the liability schedule and determine which amounts count; a company description such as “small business” is not an eligibility decision.

• The company: it must not have undergone restructuring or the simplified liquidation process during the preceding seven years.[1]
• The directors: check current directors and anyone who was a director during the preceding 12 months. Ordinarily, none can have been a director of another company that underwent restructuring or simplified liquidation during the preceding seven years.[1]
• Limited exceptions: ASIC describes exemptions for related bodies corporate where the relevant processes began within the specified 20-business-day window. Have the practitioner check the related-company relationship, appointment dates and exact regulatory exception rather than assuming that a group structure qualifies.[1]

These tests are separate from paying employee entitlements and meeting tax-lodgment requirements before a plan is put to creditors. Record the appointment-date eligibility assessment and the later plan-distribution checks separately.[1][2]

Checks before appointing the practitioner

Check the proposed individual—not merely the firm—on ASIC’s registered-liquidator list. Only an ASIC-registered liquidator can act as restructuring practitioner for the company or its restructuring plan.[1][4]

• Confirm the company can make the appointment. A practitioner cannot be appointed if the company is already under restructuring, has an unterminated restructuring plan or deed of company arrangement, is under administration, or has a liquidator, provisional liquidator or administrator appointed.[1]
• Define control and consent. Directors retain control of ordinary day-to-day affairs, but dealings outside the ordinary course require the practitioner’s consent.[1] Confirm how consent will be requested and documented for payments of admissible pre-restructuring debts, a sale or transfer of any part of the business, or payment of a dividend.[1]
• Determine remuneration before appointment. The board must determine remuneration on or before the appointment date. ASIC says the determination may specify an amount and a method for calculating remuneration for necessary additional work properly performed in proceedings begun or continued with the board’s written consent.[1]
• Check the fee structure against the applicable rules. Treasury’s December 2020 factsheet describes a flat fee agreed before commencement for preparing and putting the plan to creditors. After creditor approval, it describes remuneration as a disclosed percentage of creditor disbursements requiring creditor consent.[4] Obtain a written fee proposal and verify the requirements applying when the appointment is made.[1][4]
• Understand the commitment. The appointment cannot be revoked, and creditors cannot vote to replace the practitioner.[1]
• Prepare for public disclosure. ASIC records the appointment and external-administration status on the public Company Register. Public documents and negotiable instruments must add “restructuring practitioner appointed” after the company name; omission is a strict-liability offence.[1]

Checks before sending the plan to creditors

The practitioner must be satisfied that the employee-entitlement and tax-lodgment requirements have been met or substantially met before the plan is distributed.[1][2]

• Meet the employee-entitlement test. Currently due employee entitlements, including superannuation, must be paid or substantially complied with. Future employee entitlements are excluded. For an excluded employee, only the first $2,000 receives protected-payment treatment.[1][2]
• Meet the tax-lodgment test. Required tax returns, notices, statements, applications and other documents must be provided or substantially complied with. Tax debt itself need not be paid merely to propose the plan.[1][2]
• Document incomplete lodgments. Provide evidence of reasonable steps taken and the external factor preventing completion. The ATO assesses each outstanding lodgment obligation separately.[2] Distribution before these conditions are met or substantially met terminates the restructuring process.[2]
• Examine the practitioner’s inquiries. Ask what checks were performed into the company’s business, property, affairs and financial circumstances rather than treating the review as an audit or guarantee.[6][7]
• Read the practitioner’s declaration. It must address eligibility, the company’s likely ability to meet plan obligations when due, the completeness of the proposal statement, any matter on which the practitioner could not form the required belief and why, and relevant relationships with affected creditors.[1]
• Complete the directors’ work. Directors must propose the plan and proposal statement, execute the plan during the proposal period, compile the Schedule of Debts and Claims, assist the practitioner and provide reasonably required information.[1] At the company’s request, the practitioner may extend that period once by no more than 10 business days; a court may also grant an extension on the company’s application.[1]
• Stress-test the offer. Check the payment amount and timing, funding source and cash-flow assumptions, and require a reasoned comparison with the likely liquidation return. The ATO generally supports an eligible plan offering creditors a higher payment within a reasonable period where no disqualifying public-interest concern or risk exists.[2] The proposal cannot be altered once voting begins.[2]

Also identify liabilities the plan may not resolve. A successful restructuring does not remit a lockdown director penalty or a standard director penalty not remitted within 21 days of the director penalty notice. Plan payments can reduce the liability, but the director remains personally liable for the balance.[2]

Review guarantees and security, GST-group and consolidated-income-tax-group consequences, existing ATO garnishee notices and statutory offsets. Existing garnishees generally continue, offsets operate automatically, and the guarantee moratorium ends when the plan is entered or the restructuring otherwise ends.[1][2]

What to confirm with each provider

Stonegate Legal publishes a general 20-business-day period to prepare and execute a plan, and Boss Lawyers requires trust-account deposits upfront; Stonegate Legal [6], O’Brien Palmer [7] and Boss Lawyers [8] do not publish exact or minimum fees, fee percentages, payment schedules, cancellation or refund terms, full contract terms or service limits.

• Written quote: Confirm the statutory role, included work, exclusions, staffing, fee basis, retainer, payment milestones, additional-work rates, creditor-approved remuneration, taxes and disbursements.
• Delivery: Confirm the expected timetable, documents the company must supply, availability during the proposal period, treatment of disputed debts, and responsibility for cash-flow forecasts and the liquidation comparison.
• Engagement terms: Obtain the contract, cancellation and refund provisions, conflict disclosures, geographic arrangements and limits on legal, tax or insolvency advice.
• Provider evidence: Ask about eligibility screening, service limits and experience, because the cited pages do not provide acceptance rates or independently verified performance outcomes.[6][7][8]

Proceed only after the proposed practitioner’s registration, scope, remuneration, conflicts, compliance work and deliverables are documented for a like-for-like comparison.[1][2]

References

1. asic.gov.au (asic.gov.au)
2. Small business restructuring | Australian Taxation Office (ato.gov.au)
4. Simplified debt restructuring: a factsheet for small business (treasury.gov.au)
6. Small Business Restructuring in Australia – Stonegate Legal (stonegatelegal.com.au, 2026)
7. Small Business Restructuring Process – O’Brien Palmer (obp.com.au)
8. Small Business Restructuring in Australia | Boss Lawyers (bosslawyers.com.au)