Three Decades of Financial Distress and Corporate Restructuring in Australia

Abstract

Corporate financial distress is costly and disruptive to Australia's economy. While shareholders are the first to lose, the flow-on effects include bankruptcies, unemployment, and a negative impact on economic growth. By analysing three decades of Australian experience we aim to gain a deeper understanding of the dynamics underlying financial distress and corporate restructuring. The potential benefits include improvements to corporate practice in responding to financial distress, improvements to ASX governance (regarding listing rules and transparency in particular for small-capitalization firms), and ultimately to economic policy by elucidating the corporate sector's dynamic response acros..