When unpaid Bathla invoices affect your business

Want to explain the situation first? call 0414 641 777 for a complimentary initial conversation, with no obligation.

What if the unpaid Bathla amount affects my own bills?

Then you have two problems, not one, and they need different work.

The claim is what Bathla owes you. That runs on the administration’s timetable, not yours. Your own bills are the other problem, and that one has dates on it already.

Do not wait for the first to resolve before dealing with the second. You will be waiting months, and the wages still go out on Thursday.

For where the administration is up to, use the Bathla administration overview. This page is about getting your own position clear. It does not work out whether your business is insolvent and it does not tell you to enter any particular process.

What information makes the first conversation useful?

Not much, and less than you would think. Start with four sentences in your own words: who owes you, roughly how much, what has changed, and the next bill that is worrying you.

Approximate is fine. Just say which numbers are guesses.

Then, if you can, have this to hand. It is the difference between a useful half hour and a vague one:

• Cash currently available to the business, with the date of the balance.
• Expected customer receipts, including when you expect them and any uncertainty.
• Upcoming wages, supplier, tax, rent and finance commitments, with due dates.
• Existing payment arrangements or correspondence about overdue amounts.
• Other work or customers that may affect the picture over the coming weeks.
• Formal notices or deadlines you have received, kept with their original documents.

None of this gets sent anywhere. There is no form on this website. It is for your benefit, so the conversation is about what to do rather than about hunting for a number.

How should I treat money I hope to receive from Bathla?

Put $0 next to it.

That is the single most useful thing on this page. Not because nothing will come, but because a forecast built on money that might arrive, in an amount nobody can tell you, on a date nobody has set, is not a forecast. It is a hope with columns.

Work out what your business looks like on the assumption that Bathla pays you nothing. If money comes later, that is a good week. If you plan for it and it does not come, you have made decisions you cannot unwind.

So keep the lines apart. A supplier payment due next Friday is a fact. A creditor recovery is an unresolved outcome. Writing them down does not tell you which to pay, and that decision needs your circumstances and proper advice.

What questions can I bring to an adviser?

Ask the direct ones. There is no prize for sounding like you already know.

• What am I missing that I should be worried about?
• Which of these notices actually needs attention this week?
• Is this your field, or should I be talking to a specialist?
• If you did work for me, what would it cost?

That third one matters. Insolvency is its own specialty and plenty of good accountants do not practise in it, in the same way a GP is not a specialist. Ask directly. A good adviser will tell you straight.

And no checklist on a website, this one included, can settle a complicated position. What a first conversation can do is tell you which questions are the real ones.

Do I still need to organise the creditor claim?

Yes, keep that work separate and organised. Our unpaid invoices and claim records guide sets out a preparation approach. The official administrator’s instructions govern formal submissions; calling this service does not lodge a claim or replace those instructions. Teneo portal.

If you are also being asked to continue supplying a project, use the further work and materials questions to prepare the contract side of the discussion.

Is the initial conversation complimentary and without obligation?

Yes. There is no charge for the first conversation and nothing to sign, though your usual call costs apply.

Being straight about how this works: the first call is for both of us to work out whether there is anything useful to be done. If it turns into professional work later, that is a separate agreement with its own scope and fees, put to you in writing before anything starts.

Start with what has happened and the thing worrying you most. Before you share anything sensitive, it is fair to ask who you are speaking to and what happens to the information, and you should ask that of anyone who rings you about this. Do not send passwords or documents through this website. The privacy notice and website terms set out how this works.

What if I have a formal deadline?

Say so first, before anything else. Not at the end.

Keep the original notice where you can put your hand on it, and have it in front of you when you speak to a qualified adviser. A call to this service does not change a deadline, pause it, or stand in for advice about the notice itself.

If the date is close, ring your accountant or an adviser today. For broader preparation, see the business pressure guide.

Build a clear discussion sheet

Use your own figures; the table deliberately provides no recovery percentage or payment priority. Keep a copy of the underlying records so another person can understand the assumptions.

What should I write down after the conversation?

Five minutes while it is fresh. What you learned, what you still need to find out, and what you said you would do next.

If someone has proposed doing work for you, write down who they are, what exactly they would do, what it costs and on what terms, and get that in writing before you agree to anything. Anyone reluctant to put it in writing has told you something useful.

Keep any deadline on its own line where you will see it, not buried in general notes.

Review and limits

5 September 2026: reviewed as practical preparation guidance linked to the Bathla resource hub. No recovery estimate, financial diagnosis or recommendation to enter a particular process is made. Teneo’s public portal was checked for the official source destination; ASIC is included for general creditor context.