Retail trade accounted for 238 voluntary administration appointments between 2021 and 2025, according to a new report from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), with total liabilities of $3.66 billion and median liabilities of $2.10 million per appointment.
The figures are contained in ASIC's Report 836, which reviews voluntary administration and deed of company arrangement (DOCA) data between 2021 and 2025. The report analysed 3,528 grouped voluntary administration (VA) appointments covering 5,020 companies nationally, and is the regulator's first detailed public breakdown of how the VA and deed of company arrangement (DOCA) process plays out in practice.
ASIC's report does not break the DOCA-versus-liquidation outcome down by individual industry. But it does show the outcome is closely tied to the size of a company's liabilities, and retail's median liabilities place a typical appointment in a bracket where roughly half of all VAs nationally converted to a DOCA.
All VA appointments with $1 million to $2 million in liabilities transitioned to a DOCA 49.7 per cent of the time nationally, compared with just 15.4 per cent for appointments under $250,000 in liabilities.
Overall, 44 per cent of all VAs in the review period resulted in an approved DOCA and 50 per cent ended in voluntary liquidation. The rest were forced into liquidation by a court.
Smaller failures across all industries were far less likely to see a DOCA proposal put to creditors at all, and far more likely to end in a creditors' voluntary liquidation, the report found.
Several recent retail collapses covered by Ragtrader illustrate how a DOCA can play out once approved. Ally Fashion returned to trading in July last year under director David Dai after creditors voted to accept a DOCA, following a Federal Court order that had initially forced the retailer into liquidation over rent arrears. Around 100 stores remain open, down from about 150 before the process began, and unsecured creditors are expected to receive up to 25 cents in the dollar. Today, the brand has 86 stores according to its website.
Wittner's DOCA – around the same time as Ally Fashion – was used to complete a sale of the footwear brand to The Shoe Group, retaining more than 170 staff, 11 standalone stores and all 28 concessions in Myer and David Jones. Deloitte Turnaround & Restructuring administrators managed the process; ASIC filings put Wittner's liabilities at $25 million at the time of collapse.
Meanwhile, Jeanswest's DOCA in June last year followed an eight-week sell-down of stock that raised $15 million, funding a deed that returned 100 cents in the dollar on more than $4 million in owed staff wages and entitlements. Unsecured trade creditors, owed around $13 million, received just 2 cents in the dollar. Control of the business reverted to director George Yeung, who has flagged a new business model going forward.
There was also SurfStitch, which returned to trading following a DOCA approval. The online surfwear retailer, sold to asset manager Best Markets via a share sale prior to its collapse, entered voluntary administration in mid-2025 with total liabilities of $13.28 million, including $8.27 million owed to secured creditors and just over $5 million to unsecured creditors. Administrators Edwin Narayan and Domenic Calabretta of Mackay Goodwin oversaw the process after Nike Australia sought to have the company wound up over a $237,760 debt.
Best Markets tabled a DOCA to transition SurfStitch from a traditional online retailer to a marketplace operation, with unsecured creditors expected to receive 4.73 cents in the dollar. The DOCA was approved in July 2025, returning control of the business to Best Markets.
ASIC's report found that nationally, DOCAs were used for a range of purposes: 49 per cent of approved DOCAs involved the business continuing to trade after execution, 22 per cent involved a sale of the business or assets, and 22 per cent involved no sale and no continued trading, instead operating as a negotiated compromise of creditor claims.
ASIC commissioner Kate O’Rourke said the findings show DOCAs are being used for a range of commercial purposes.
"They may allow the company’s business to continue trading, facilitate the sale of the business or assets, or provide a mechanism for creditor claims to be compromised," O'Rourke said.
"This is important because voluntary administration is intended to give an insolvent company, or as much of its business as possible, an opportunity to continue where that is viable, or otherwise to produce a better return for creditors than an immediate winding up."
As for smaller businesses, which face a lower chance of seeing a DOCA tabled, O’Rourke said they may have other insolvency pathways available. This includes small business restructuring, which she said may be more efficient or cost-effective.
"Less than one-third of smaller appointments, with liabilities of less than $1 million, resulted in a deed of company arrangement proposal being approved," O'Rourke said. "Most of these appointments resulted in liquidation with no deed of company arrangement proposal being put to creditors."
The report also found that DOCAs relying on future trading profits generally took longer to complete and were more likely to eventually fail and enter liquidation, compared with those funded by asset sales or third-party contributions.
Nearly two-thirds of all approved DOCAs involved a third-party contribution, and 83 per cent excluded some or all related-party creditor claims – mechanisms the regulator said are intended to improve returns to unrelated creditors, but which can also reduce the scrutiny of director conduct that would otherwise occur in a full liquidation.
Nationally, DOCAs that were wholly effectuated paid unsecured creditors an average of 21.3 cents in the dollar and a median of 11.5 cents in the dollar.