Turnaround and restructuring
If the business loses money every month and the ATO letters have started, you still have choices. Turnaround and restructuring is the work of fixing a viable company while you keep control: restructuring debt, stabilising cash flow and dealing with creditors before anyone is appointed.
What turnaround and restructuring actually is
Most company directors know the business is in trouble months before they get advice. What changes over those months is not the size of the debt. It is the number of options left. Once a creditor takes legal action, or a winding-up application is filed in the Federal Court, most of the useful choices have already closed.
It is not a formal insolvency appointment. No administrator or liquidator takes over; no external party is put in control; and nothing is published. You keep making the decisions. We work with you on the numbers and your creditors, and the conversation stays confidential unless you decide otherwise.
Not every company under pressure needs an appointment. Turnaround is what you can still do while the choice is yours, and telling you when it is no longer yours is part of the job.
- Who stays in control
- You do. No administrator, no liquidator, no one external running the company or signing for it.
- Is it confidential
- Yes. There is no formal appointment, so no statutory notice goes out, and nothing is published about the company.
- How long it takes
- Months to years. There is no statutory clock on informal turnaround, so the timing follows the work rather than a date.
- What it can and cannot fix
- It can restructure the company’s debt and its cash flow. It does not clear the personal guarantees you have already signed.
What turnaround protects when a company is in financial difficulties
Acting early protects four things that get much harder to protect once someone else is in charge.
Trading value
Contracts, customers, staff and goodwill hold their value while the business trades. They erode fast once an appointment becomes public.
Your personal position
Personal guarantees, insolvent trading exposure and director penalty notices are all easier to deal with while options remain open than after they close.
Employee entitlements
Wages and superannuation are far easier to keep current while the company is trading than to recover from a government scheme afterwards.
A plan built on real numbers
Restructuring efforts fail when they are built on hope. A documented plan aimed at profitability and sustainable growth is also one that stands up if ever tested.
Three ways to restructure while you keep control
Three routes do most of the work, and in practice, they run together rather than being chosen between. A solvent company with the wrong structure is a simpler job again.
Safe Harbour
Keep trading while you turn it around.
The safe harbour provisions in section 588GA of the Corporations Act 2001 protect company directors from personal liability for debts incurred while they develop and pursue a course of action reasonably likely to lead to a better outcome for the company than immediate external administration. Safe harbour protection is not a process creditors are notified of. It is the legal cover that makes a genuine turnaround plan possible, and it depends on the plan and the records existing at the time.
Formal Appointment
Stay in control while a plan goes to creditors.
For companies that meet the eligibility criteria under Part 5.3B, a formal appointment for an insolvent small business allows directors to continue running operations in the ordinary course while a restructuring plan is put to affected creditors. Only a person registered with ASIC as a liquidator can act as your restructuring practitioner. Business restructuring services suit viable businesses carrying legacy debt, most often to the ATO.
Small business restructuring →Informal Workout & Refinancing
Restructure debt without a formal insolvency process.
We deal directly with creditors and financiers on the company’s behalf: a standstill while a plan is prepared, repayment terms that match actual cash flow, refinancing to a lender who understands the sector, or bringing in equity from new investors. No formal appointment to the company.
How the turnaround and restructuring process works
Informal turnaround has no statutory timetable, so the honest answer on timing is a range rather than a date.
- STEP 1
The first conversation
Within daysYou tell us what is happening in your own words. We tell you whether this looks like something that can be turned around.
- STEP 2
The viability review
Two to four weeksThe numbers properly: cash flow, margin, the debt, who is owed what and when. This decides whether there is a business worth restructuring.
- STEP 3
The plan and the creditors
One to three monthsWe build the plan, document it so it stands up if tested, and take it to the creditors who matter. Safe harbour goes into place here.
- STEP 4
Execute and watch the trigger point
OngoingWe track the plan against what it promised. If it stops being reasonably likely to produce a better outcome, that is the point to move to a formal appointment.
When turnaround is not the right answer
Five situations where we will tell you straight rather than take the work.
Not viable at its core
Without a viable core business, a turnaround or restructure will not succeed.
There are not enough resources
The business cannot fund the cash flow it needs to keep trading, internally or through debt or equity.
Lodgements cannot be brought current
Unlodged BAS and unpaid superannuation limit what any pathway can do.
There is too much debt
With no real prospect of repaying it through asset sales or cash flow, the turnaround is unlikely to succeed.
You cannot fund the plan
The cash flow does not show how the turnaround and restructuring plan would be funded.
What people ask us first
Straight answers to the questions we hear most.
If I tell you everything, will you report me to the ATO?+
Is the business too far gone to save?+
My accountant says there’s nothing I can do. Is that right?+
What’s the difference between turnaround and restructuring?+
Real people, on your side, when it matters most
At Rapsey Griffiths, you'll deal with the people whose name is on the door: Mitch Griffiths and Chad Rapsey, Founders. Between them, Mitch and Chad bring decades of turnaround and corporate-insolvency experience, and a calm, commercial approach that helps directors understand exactly where they stand. As Registered Liquidators, they're accountable for your matter from the first call to the final step.
Read up before you reach out
Can you really negotiate ATO tax debt?
What the ATO can and can't do, and the realistic options for relief.
The Small Business Restructuring Plan explained
How the SBR process works, who qualifies, and why directors stay in control.
Is your business simply limping along?
The early warning signs that it's time to get advice and act.
Explore how else we can help
Small business restructuring
Stay in control and keep trading while a plan to compromise company debt goes to creditors.
How the SBR process works →Voluntary administration
An administrator takes control and puts the best available outcome for creditors.
What administration involves →For accountants & advisors
Confidential support and clear options papers when your clients face financial stress.
How we work with advisors →