ASIC's biggest ever review of voluntary administration is out, covering 5,000 companies over four years. Chris Baskerville and James Flaherty pull seven lessons from it, and the numbers reframe how VA and SBR sit next to each other.

Bigger companies restructure more successfully, but 15% of VAs still had debts under $250,000. VAs' share of external administration has dropped from a third to just 10% since SBR arrived, and two-thirds of DOCA proposals now involve a third party funding the deal rather than the company itself. The related-party voting rules also work in opposite directions between VA and SBR, which changes how a proposal gets built.