Most of that debt is historical from past management and owed to both the NBL and new owner spencely

A big chunk is owed to spencely from paying the players back pay from the previous community model, apparently he paid the players before taking over ownership

I'm told the players get their super paid as part of a government guarantee when companies go into VA.

And that should be enough to spell the end of the franchise.

7 figure debt before the athlete contracts are resolved? Hmmm, I think we're going to hear some interesting stories out of this one..

Not only players, but staff wages & entitlements as well !

That is why VA can assist sometimes.

If most of that debt is historical and owed to both the NBL and Spencely, then a negotiated settlement could be worked out.

If Spencely is the new owner and he owes himself money so to speak, then he should be able to write off that debt to himself. If a big chunk is from Spencely paying the players back pay before taking over ownership, then he just has to chalk that one up as sponsorship or something.

If the NBL are chasing money, then they might have to write off that debt, or at least be flexible in how they recover that debt, or adjust any future payments to the Hawks to reflect that debt recovery.

That's a nasty debt for the team, but at least they're climbing ;)

[/grammarnazi]

In all this serious business of financial woe, we can still take the piss... God bless Australia!

Surely the owner would of done his due diligence when buying the business and knew exactly what he was getting himself into.

"Is this Voluntary administration just a way to try and get out of paying some of the old bills carried over from previous management?"

Simply put, no.

It's to protect their own backside. Companies go into VA if they're on the edge/really struggling.

They basically want to freeze trading, stop and work things through.

If they don't submit to VA, they will continue trading and can go over the edge (i.e become insolvent) - in which case they will be trading recklessly and in NZ for example, that sort of conduct is a criminal offence.

So they freeze things now to protect themselves (and fair enough too as continuing to trade with such a business would be idiotic).

I suspect a large portion of the $1.1m would be owed to Spencely and as Jack Toft noted, it has probably been written off. I wouldn't think this was debt to external, third parties. If it was and it accrued in previous seasons, then VA would have come along a lot sooner.

A large portion of the debt is NOT owed to soenceley. . . And this i know as i am a creditor and have the actual unsecured creditors list and outstanding amounts payable. . , 3/4 million is unsecured creditors being the nbl , the tax dept, office of state revenue and then companies like mine. , smaller amounts but enough to hurt us and cuase us cash flow problems. . And VA only protects them, they can wipe the slate clean and start again and what about the smaller companies they financially leave ruined? and yes james spenceley sshould have done his due dilligence and been aware of thes historical debts and from what i understood he made an undertaking to pay them down as part of him buying the club. . Seems he did not honour that agreement.

I don't think they've paid superannuation for a year?

How is this possible? VA should never have been an option to me. I would have thought trading illegally or what ever the technically business term is for not complying with paying entitlements.

As mentioned a couple of days ago the ATO is always high up on the list of creditors when these things happen and it's normally because they are the easiest to put off paying, same with SG contributions. No one ever chases these things up until they are well and truly behind, plus each month there is more BAS due and more super payments owing plays the penalty interest charges on top.

I'm guessing that Gongskis company has been calling and calling and looking for their money whereas the ATO hasn't chased up at all (initially) rather they've most likely just send a couple of letters asking for payments. All the while they will happily be charging interest well over 10% until finally they decide to start sending letters of demand, owners/directors have crapped themselves and appointed an administrator to cover their arse and delay the inevitable while hoping a miracle will happen and they can continue

at a guess probably PAYG tax from employees that hasn't been passed on.

GST, PAYG to name a few....