Visualization technology can help insolvency practitioners overcome many challenges in their work. It enables them to quickly understand a company's full financial position by converting complex commercial information like reports into easy-to-understand visual pictures. This mitigates risks for practitioners and helps them make better initial decisions about jobs. The Encompass solution provides visualization that instantly converts information into visual formats. It allows practitioners to easily spot relationships and risks/opportunities across multiple data sources in one place, improving decision-making and saving significant time.

1. How information visualisation can
turn the insolvency tightrope into an
open road.
RE-SHAPING
INSOLVENCY
W H I T E P A P E R
Copyright © 2013 Encompass Corporation. All Rights Reserved

2. OVERVIEW 2
INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT 4
WALKING THE INSOLVENCY TIGHTROPE - BRIEF BACKGROUND 5
A BALANCING ACT IN THE DARK 7
THE TECHNOLOGY SAFETY NET 10
VISUALISATION – THE FULL PICTURE IN A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE 12
THE ENCOMPASS SOLUTION – PAVING THE WAY 13
CONCLUSION 16
ABOUT ENCOMPASS 17
Contents

3. OVERVIEW
Consulting and salvaging are not always the first words that come to mind when referring to the
insolvency industry (also known as the restructuring and insolvency industry). The industry has long
had a stigma attached to its name for being the ‘corporate undertakers’ that wind up businesses and
sell off the assets to recover money. The reality, however, is that insolvency practitioners provide a life
line to potentially insolvent businesses, helping them restructure and reorganise their commitments
and formulate strategies for a way forward. The primary aim of insolvency practitioners is to maximise
returns to creditors and safeguard the interests of stakeholders in accordance with statutory priorities. It
is, therefore, critical for them to see a business’s full financial and commercial position, fast.
The industry is often criticised by media and creditors for inflated costs, not appreciating the many
inherent challenges faced. The most obvious challenge is that of taking on insolvency jobs without the
guarantee of payment. In addition, insolvency practitioners often operate in the dark when taking over the
administration of an insolvent company, thereby taking on significant personal risk. The strict industry
regulations further add to the woes of the practitioners, stipulating that they properly evaluate all assets
and contact the creditors in a certain time frame to inform them of the situation. These are all time
critical matters and, hence, place a significant amount of pressure on the practitioners. While they are
committed to providing high quality outcomes for all jobs undertaken, insolvency practitioners also need
to maximise revenue for their firms and mitigate personal risks. Walking this tightrope of competing
priorities and challenges is an ongoing burden and at the same time the key to success.
insolvency practitioners often operate in the dark when taking over the
administration of an insolvent company, thereby taking on significant personal
risk.
It is critical for (insolvency practitioners) to see a business’s full financial and
commercial position, fast.
2

4. Visualisation technology enables practitioners to see relevant information at
a glance and save significant time when investigating a company’s financial
position.
Technological solutions can provide the much needed support for insolvency practitioners by helping
address the many challenges they face. Visualisation technology enables practitioners to see relevant
information at a glance and save significant time when investigating a company’s financial position.
This white paper reveals how, due to the heavy reliance of insolvency practitioners on commercial
information (such as reports from ASIC, PPSR and Credit Bureaus), cloud based visualisation technology
can provide significant benefits. Visualisation can convert the commercial information, that practitioners
routinely search and review, into easy to understand multi-dimensional pictures, thereby reducing the
risk of human error. This paper also explains how these easy to use solutions, can enable practitioners
to draw links and relationships, in order to clearly see company directors’ past and present commitments
and make the right decisions. This in turn ultimately facilitates higher quality outcomes at low costs,
opening the road to enhanced profitability.
3

5. 4
Australian Securities and Investment Commission
(ASIC) reports that there are currently 681 registered
liquidators in Australia, a number that has declined
since 1999 when there were 874 registered liquidators
(Figure 1). At the same time, there were 10,074
corporate insolvencies registered in Australia in 2011-
2012 with 78.5 per cent of them having less than 20
employees and 85.5 per cent of them having less than
$100,000 of assets . This shows that small to medium
sized businesses continue to dominate the insolvency
circuit. Insolvencies may be on the rise within the SMB
sector, however this is not the case in the enterprise
sector where the banks are being particularly lenient
towards organisations in that space. Since the GFC, the
cautious business spending and borrowing has driven
the banks to try and find ways to ‘keep’ their customers
rather than replacing them.
INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT
Since the GFC, the cautious business spending and borrowing has driven the banks
to try and find ways to ‘keep’ their customers rather than replacing them.
Figure 1 Source: ASIC 2013
1
ASIC report on corporate insolvencies 2011-2012
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Registered Liquidators
ASIC 4 July 2013

6. WALKING THE INSOLVENCY
TIGHTROPE – BRIEF BACKGROUND:
The insolvency industry has been walking the tightrope for a few years now, with media scrutiny and
government investigation intensifying around 2007. One of the main reasons for such scrutiny was the
presence of some rogue operators whose unethical work practices adversely reflected on the entire
industry. According to a Senate report, ASIC experienced a spike in the complaints against insolvency
practitioners between 2007 and 2009. This resulted in a Senate inquiry in 2010 into the industry and the
complaint handling process in place by ASIC and Insolvency Practitioners Association of Australia (IPAA),
the professional body for insolvency practitioners. It was noted that the complaints against insolvency
practitioners between 2007 and 2009, rose at a rate proportionally greater than the number of insolvency
appointments between these years2
:
complaints against insolvency practitioners between 2007 and 2009, rose at
a rate proportionally greater than the number of insolvency appointments
between these years.
Source: ASIC and Insolvency Industry Senate Report 2010
5
2008-2009
2007-2008
0 100
Complaints received
200 300 400 500 600 700
Registered Practices
Complaints Vs Registered Practices
2
Insolvency Industry Senate Report 2010

7. Eight per cent of these complaints were related to remuneration issues including over servicing and over
charging by the firms and another 12 per cent related to failure to act in a timely manner. On the back of
this inquiry, the Senate made some recommendations including the need for greater transparency by the
insolvency practitioners in relation to the charges and costs of insolvency procedures. Furthermore, the
IPAA now mandates practitioners to maintain a system that requires staff to record:
» Period of time spent on the job
» Categories of work performed
» Details of work being performed
Although insolvency practitioners have always been meticulous about recording and reporting the time
spent on a job, the legislation now draws more attention to this aspect of their day to day operations,
putting added pressure on the time critical nature of their work.
Although insolvency practitioners have always been meticulous about
recording and reporting the time spent on a job, the legislation now draws
more attention to this aspect of their day to day operations
6

8. A BALANCING ACT IN THE DARK:
In the greater scheme of things, excessive paper work is the least of the insolvency practitioners’
problems. The industry faces many other challenges in its day to day operations that are often overlooked
by the media and governing bodies. There is prevalent criticism by stakeholders that insolvency firms
overcharge for their services. However, others claim there is a strong case for the practitioners charging
a premium for their services including the following:
The delicate balancing act of resource allocation is mostly carried out in the dark, where a process of
investigation and taking over a business that little or nothing is known about, can reveal many surprises.
This uncertainty combined with the pressure of timely communications to creditors and managing
competing stakeholder priorities are among the challenges often ignored by the industry’s critics.
» The complex and unpredictable nature of the job
» A high exposure to personal liability and risk
» Other extraneous tasks that need to be carried out in the liquidation process
» Third party engagement where necessary for the liquidation process
» No guarantee of fee generation from insolvency jobs that still utilize a firm’s resources
the delicate balancing act of resource allocation is mostly carried out in the
dark, where a process of investigation and taking over a business that little or
nothing is known about, can reveal many surprises.
7

9. In a recent survey conducted by Encompass Corporation (November 2013), 95 participants from the
insolvency industry were asked:
» what are the biggest pain points for an insolvency practitioner, and
» what the critical aspects of their role are.
8
Pain Points of
Insolvency Industry
Critical Aspects of Insolvency
Practitioners’ role
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Mitigatingrisk
ofpersonal
liability
Managing
reputation
andpublicity
Managing
competing
stakeholder
interests
Ongoing
revisionof
costestimates
Ensuring
profitability
ofjobsyou
takeon
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Deliveringhigh
qualityofwork
Quicklyand
accurately
understandingthe
financialposition
ofacompany
Ensuringtimely
communications
withstakeholders
Maintainingstrong
relationshipswith
referralsources
It can be seen from the responses that managing reputation and managing competing stakeholder
interests pose significant issues for the practitioners and result in a juggling act when trying to mitigate
risk and ensuring profitability of the jobs undertaken. Delivering high quality outcomes and understanding
the full financial position of a company also scored very high when it came to the critical aspects of an
insolvency practitioner’s role.

10. It also needs to be kept in mind that timely and clear communications play a significant role in the
insolvency process. When it comes to engaging stakeholders, it is not as easy as sending out emails to
advise them that a certain company has become insolvent. Insolvency practitioners deal with creditors
from all walks of life, and therefore, need to ensure that the information they provide to the creditors is
easily understood - be it a tradesperson or a professional. A clear and simple language has the advantage
of putting all stakeholders on a level playing field ensuring that creditors can respond to what they are
owed.
Insolvency practitioners deal with creditors from all walks of life and therefore,
need to ensure that the information they provide to the creditors is easily
understood - be it a tradesperson or a professional.
9

11. THE TECHNOLOGY SAFETY NET
While many technological solutions are available on the market, insolvency practitioners are time poor
and traditionally rely on manual processes. A survey conducted by Encompass in November 2013 shows
that in order for insolvency practitioners to consider adoption of a technological solution it must have the
following attributes in order of priority:
10
Ease of use
Error reduction
Revenue generation
Cost savings
Time savings
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Technology Priorities for
Insolvency Practitioners
1. Save them time,
2. Reduce the risk of human error,
3. Be easy to understand and use,
4. Reduce costs, and
5. Generate revenue
These results are in line with the challenges faced by practitioners in their day to day practice where they
are involved in the juggling act of managing competing priorities.

12. Technological solutions currently used within the insolvency industry, such as electronic document
storage, data analytics, practice management software and email communications help address the
abovementioned priorities by providing assistance during the course of a job and help with the ongoing
investigations. However, in order to steer the ongoing investigation in the right direction and to ensure high
quality outcomes, insolvency practitioners need to have a clear knowledge of the links and relationships
between assets and directors at the beginning of a job.
Visualisation technology can provide this particular advantage to them. Such solutions are critical to
help mitigate risk that insolvency practitioners incur with each job they take on and ensure that they are
meeting their primary objective of maximising returns for the creditors as well as remaining competitive.
Insolvency professionals, therefore, need to start seeking out technology solutions that will give them the
full picture, fast and help them enhance efficiencies from the very beginning of a job
…insolvency practitioners need to have a clear knowledge of the links and
relationships between assets and directors at the beginning of a job...
visualisation technology can provide this particular advantage to them
11

13. VISUALISATION – THE FULL PICTURE IN A
UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE:
We are, by nature, visual beings. A picture is processed 60,000 times faster by the human brain than words.
A technological solution that creates a visual picture of people, companies, property and assets involved
in a job (i.e. commercial information) provides a very pertinent solution for insolvency practitioners, not
only in terms of being able to see the full picture fast, but also as a mechanism for sharing complex
information with ease. When practitioners are able to find relevant information fast from a haystack of
data, it mitigates the risk of human error and oversight and saves a considerable amount of time. This is
the main reason for the rise in the adoption of visualisation solutions and the use of infographics by people
across industries. Time-poor corporate professionals rely on ‘at a glance’ overviews of reports before
drilling down into the relevant data because the pictures can immediately reveal the important issues
that need addressing and help prioritise actions. In other words, visualisation can turn information into
actionable insights, instantly.
However, there is an added benefit of visualisation in the case of insolvency practice. When the big
picture of a company’s corporate tree is instantly available, it also helps practitioners uncover other
business opportunities or find assets that may help to restructure a potentially insolvent company. The
bottom line is, a technological solution that converts commercial information into an actionable visual
format plays a critical role in making the right decisions from the very beginning of a job and preventing
re-work further down the line.
A technological solution that creates a visual picture of people, companies,
property and assets involved in a job (ie. commercial information) provides a
very pertinent solution for insolvency practitioners
a technological solution that converts commercial information into an
actionable visual format plays a critical role in making the right decisions from
the very beginning of a job and preventing re-work further down the line.
12

14. 13
THE ENCOMPASS SOLUTION
– PAVING THE WAY:
Currently there are a number of software solutions on the market that allow companies to convert their
internal information into more traditional forms of visualisation such as pie charts, graphs or heat maps.
However, insolvency practitioners also heavily rely on external information sources (such as ASIC, PPSR,
AFSA, Land Title Offices and Credit Bureaus etc.) to make their decisions and get an idea of a company’s
commercial position. These reports, obtained from Information Providers and Credit Bureaus, are
presented in linear PDF format where in some cases, hundreds of pages need to be read through to
extract relevant high value information. Furthermore, the information is usually complex, text based and
difficult to standardise. Re-entering data from these reports is error-prone, tedious and time consuming.
These reports obtained from Information Providers and Credit Bureaus are
presented in linear PDF format where in some cases, hundreds of pages need to
be read through to extract relevant high value information.
This is where Encompass, a cloud based visualisation solution, fills the gap and addresses a real need for
practitioners to overcome these challenges. Encompass instantly converts commercial information into
a picture with simple point and click functionality. This enables practitioners to more easily and accurately
foresee the complexities of a job from the very beginning and, as a result, make better decisions around
which jobs to take on and how to allocate resources to ensure profitability. With Encompass, users are
able to clearly spot links that would otherwise be difficult to see in an information haystack, uncovering
potential risks, as well as opportunities.
Encompass instantly converts commercial information into a picture with
simple point and click functionality.

15. 14
While the commercial information is always
available in a picture format in Encompass, the
solution also offers a number of other benefits
beyond just the visualisation aspect. To start with,
simply being able to access multiple data sources
from one easy-to-use place and conduct multiple
searches at once, offers significant time savings.
Another benefit, highly valued by insolvency
practitioners, is that Encompass presents the
information in an Excel table style format for cross
checking and extracting other details from the
reports that may be needed to fully understand
security interests. For example, PPSR data can
be easily filtered and sorted by collateral class,
and registrations with PMSIs or ALLPAAPs can be
identified immediately.
This multi-dimensional view of commercial
information and the ability to quickly and easily
identify flags offers the much needed peace of
mind when it comes to ensuring the best decisions
are made and personal risk is minimised.
The other less obvious, but very valuable benefit of
Encompass is its ability to clearly record the due
diligence undertaken by practitioners during the
end-to-end insolvency process in a way that can
be easily understood by stakeholders at all levels,
facilitating compliance.
With Encompass, users are able to clearly spot links that would otherwise be
difficult to see in an information haystack, uncovering potential risks, as well
as opportunities.

16. 15
With visualisation at its core, Encompass assists processes such as sharing, managing and optimising
the use of information across teams, departments and borders. It puts data into perspective by extracting,
consolidating and displaying links instantly in an interactive online format.
For an increasingly mobile workforce, this cloud based solution means that the information can be
accessed anytime, from anywhere, in an easily retrievable format. The online search, review and manage
ecosystem enables firms to get more done in shorter time frames with minimum effort, minimum waste
and maximum efficiencies. This in turn ultimately increases the profitability of each and every job while
paving the way to deliver high quality outcomes.
From this...
...to this!
The online search, review and manage ecosystem enables firms to get more
done in shorter time frames with minimum effort, minimum waste and
maximum efficiencies....ultimately increasing the profitability of each and
every job.

17. 16
CONCLUSION
Insolvency practitioners face many challenges in their day to day lives, walking the tightrope in order
to deliver high quality outcomes and protect their reputation while avoiding exposure to personal risk;
they do this along with the balancing act of managing competing stakeholder priorities and efficient
use of scarce resources. The increasing regulations and scepticism surrounding this profession further
compound the challenges already faced by the practitioners.
This is where technology, and in particular visualisation technology, can help turn the insolvency tightrope
into an open road. Commercial information obtained from Information Providers and Credit Bureaus is
heavily relied upon by insolvency practitioners. Encompass, with its capability to automatically convert
commercial information into easy to understand pictures, allows practitioners to make informed decisions
from the very beginning of a matter, by being able to assess a company’s full commercial position, fast.
Furthermore, Encompass can provide the means to consolidate, manage and review commercial data
effectively, which translates into significant time savings and effortless reporting, while reducing the
risk of human error. In combination, these benefits go a long way towards streamlining work and thereby
easing many pressures felt by insolvency practitioners.
This is where technology, and in particular visualisation technology, can help
turn the insolvency tightrope into an open road.
Encompass can provide the means to consolidate, manage and review
commercial data effectively, which translates into significant time savings and
effortless reporting, while reducing the risk of human error.

18. Encompass Corporation is the developer of
Encompass software and is based in Sydney with
over 40 employees and growing fast. Encompass
is a web-based application that powerfully and
securely consolidates corporate, personal,
property, asset and other disparate data sets
from a growing list of regulatory, information
provider and credit bureau sources. In Australia,
these include the company’s regulator - ASIC,
Bankruptcy and Secured Interests Registers, Land
Title information and other Government Regulatory
data, GDC personal verification data, RP Data/ Core
Logic property AVMs and reports and Experian
commercial and consumer credit reports.
Encompass displays people, property, companies
and assets, as symbols on an interactive visual
chart in your web browser. This visualisation can
then be used to uncover relationships, access
legal documents and find out more about different
entities in the picture. The resulting intelligence can
be saved, refreshed and shared to grow revenue,
reduce costs and increase productivity.
Encompass Corporation has recently established
offices in the UK and has its sights firmly set on
North America and other international markets.
For more information visit
www.encompasscorporation.com
or call 1300Encompass
ABOUT ENCOMPASS
@ @ @
Encompass Corporation Pty Ltd
Level 4, 65 York Street
Sydney NSW, Australia 2000
1300Encompass
info@encompasscorporation.com
Encompass Corporation
Level 9, 440 Collins Street,
Melbourne 3000
1300Encompass
info@encompasscorporation.com
Encompass Corporation Pty Ltd
10th Floor, 3 Hardman Street,
Spinningfields, Manchester. M3 3HF
+44 7885675083
info@encompasscorporation.com
17