Next month, ASIC is expected to launch it’s Report on Company Activities and Property (ROCAP) which will have the effect of revising the existing RATA form.  It has been designed in response to law reform and industry consultation, and serves to enable insolvency practitioners to obtain better information about events leading up to an external administration, including information about asset recoveries and reporting to ASIC.

Relevantly, the revised form seeks to minimise costs by:

  • reducing the time spent dealing with large quantities of paperwork, by simplifying the process in which information is collected from directors about an external administration;
  • providing directors with a form that they are able to complete themselves, thus reducing time spent following up information that was excluded in the first instance; and
  • reducing requests from liquidators under ASIC’s Liquidator Assistance Program.

Ahead of ROCAP’s launch, ASIC has recommended that insolvency practitioners review their internal processes, such as changes to internal systems, precedents and checklists, to ensure they are equipped for its introduction this November.