About the Insolvency Practitioners Register

On this page:

• The purpose of the scheme
• Searching the register
• Roles and responsibilities
  • Accredited bodies
  • Recognised bodies
  • The Registrar of Companies and the Companies Office
• Fees and levies
• The legislation
• Who to contact for personal insolvency

The purpose of the scheme

The co-regulatory scheme aims to promote quality, expertise, and integrity in the profession of insolvency practitioners.

An insolvency practitioner is someone who acts as the liquidator, administrator or receiver of an insolvent body corporate, or a trustee of an individual’s creditor proposal. The quality of a practitioner’s advice and decisions can have a significant impact on whether a business is rehabilitated or liquidated, and on the total amount available for distribution to creditors. All insolvency practitioners are placed in a position of managing and protecting other people’s money and property. It is, therefore, critical that they act honestly, fairly and impartially at all times.

Practitioners working on New Zealand insolvencies must be licensed by an accredited body and listed on the register of insolvency practitioners.

Searching the register

If you're a member of the public, creditor, or business owner looking for an insolvency practitioner, or public information about an insolvency practitioner, you can search the Insolvency Practitioners Register.
Search for a licensed insolvency practitioner

You may search the Insolvency Practitioners Register to:

• determine whether a person is a licensed insolvency practitioner
• check the status and relevant professional history of the insolvency practitioner
• check a practitioner’s disciplinary history subsequent to the Act commencing
• check whether a practitioner’s licence is subject to any conditions
• choose a suitable person to carry out an insolvency engagement.

Contents of the register

The Insolvency Practitioners Register holds the following details for each practitioner:

• name and address
• registration number
• business/firm name, contact details and NZBN
• accredited body that issued the insolvency practitioner’s licence
• date the insolvency practitioner’s licence was issued and expires
• types of insolvency engagement the insolvency practitioner is authorised to carry out
• conditions on the insolvency practitioner’s licence
• details of any suspension, cancellation, prohibition and disciplinary actions affected the insolvency practitioner in the last 7 years.

The register also includes information about former licensed insolvency practitioners.

Where the information comes from

Information on the Insolvency Practitioners Register is collected by accredited bodies. If you need to correct or update any information on the register, you should contact your accredited body.

Roles and responsibilities

Accredited bodies

Accredited bodies are responsible for carrying out the frontline regulation of insolvency practitioners. This includes:

• licensing
• ongoing competence
• investigating complaints
• taking disciplinary action when appropriate.

If you’re an insolvency practitioner, you should contact your accredited body about:

• becoming a licensed insolvency practitioner
• renewing your insolvency practitioner licence
• updating your details on the Insolvency Practitioner Register
• your ongoing professional, ethical and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) obligations
• any queries concerning your professional obligations under your accredited body’s membership rules.

Members of the public can also contact an insolvency practitioner's accredited body to find out about:

• becoming a licensed insolvency practitioner
• making a complaint about a licensed insolvency practitioner in regards to breaches of professional standards, lack of competence, or overcharging.

You can find out which accredited body licensed an insolvency practitioner by searching the register. Some accredited bodies are supported by recognised bodies.

Search for a licensed insolvency practitioner

Recognised bodies

A recognised body is a person (for example, an incorporated professional body or industry group) that is recognised, by notice in the Gazette, by the Registrar for the purposes of section 57 of the Act .

A member of a recognised body can be issued a licence by an accredited body.

Registrar of Companies and the Companies Office

The Registrar of Companies and the Companies Office are responsible for overseeing the regulatory regime and accredited bodies. The Registrar also maintains the online register of insolvency practitioners.

Insolvency practitioners, you should contact the Registrar about:

• filing insolvency reports on the Companies Register
• reporting serious problems
• asking for your personal information to be suppressed if disclosure of the information on the register would be likely to prejudice the privacy or personal safety of any person.

Members of the public should contact the Registrar of Companies about:

• people acting as an insolvency practitioner without a licence
• any possible criminal offending relating to bodies corporate or insolvency practitioners.

Contacting the Registrar

You can email us at practitioners@companies.govt.nz

Alternatively, you can write to us at:

Registrar of Companies
Private Bag 92061
Victoria Street West
Auckland 1142

or

Registrar of Companies
Level 1, 162 Victoria Street
Auckland 1010.

Fees and levies

The costs of the Registrar to provide the online register of insolvency practitioners and oversight and monitoring of the insolvency practitioner regulatory system are recovered by fees and levies.

Application and annual confirmation fee

Insolvency practitioners pay a single application fee and a subsequent annual licence confirmation fee to an accredited body. The accredited body passes these fees to the Registrar.

New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants is an accredited body and their fees are outlined in FAQs published on the CA ANZ website .

Levy on companies

All companies benefit from an efficient and effective insolvency practitioner regulatory regime — whether as creditors, or when needing insolvency and recovery advice and services themselves. Companies contribute by paying an insolvency practitioner regulatory system levy of $1.00 (plus GST). We collect this levy at the same time as the company incorporation fee and the company annual return fee.

The legislation

Who to contact for personal insolvency

Please visit www.insolvency.govt.nz to learn more about personal bankruptcy, no-asset procedures, debt repayment orders, advice about managing your debts, or to contact the Insolvency and Trustee Service.

Last updated 27 May 2024