The Corporations and Markets Advisory Committee (CAMAC) has released a report on Issues in external administration.
The report contains recommendations to improve the efficiency of the external administration process.
In the Committee’s view, greater use of the Internet for conveying information to creditors as well as to the general public would enhance the efficiency, and reduce the cost, of external administrations. Creditors in particular will be empowered by ready access to information about the identity of fellow creditors and the progress of an administration. This can be achieved by:
- requiring administrators to publish the name and contact details of each creditor on a designated website and to publish the estimated amount due to each creditor, other than in relation to any creditor who requests that the amount not be made public
- giving an external administrator the right to inform creditors in the initial notice to them that all subsequent information will be made available on a designated website
- implementing a staged move of mandatory public notices relating to external administrations from the print media to an ASIC website.
The report also recommends measures to enhance procedural efficiency, including:
- enabling an administrator who for good reason cannot chair the major meeting of creditors in a voluntary administration to appoint a suitably qualified nominee subject to creditor approval
- giving creditors the power to determine the remuneration of a provisional liquidator
- allowing a liquidator to conduct a postal vote of creditors on certain administrative matters.
