Referring a client to us
If you are a chartered accountant, commercial lawyer, banker or financial adviser with a client in financial difficulty, your name goes with the referral. This page sets out exactly what happens when you send a client to us, what your client can expect, and what you get back.
How a referral works
Pick up the phone, or send an email
There is no intake form and no gatekeeping. Call or email Kevin Davies, our licensed insolvency practitioner, directly. Describe the situation in as much or as little detail as you are comfortable with; a referral can start as a no-names conversation if that suits you or your client better.
We respond the same business day. The first conversation with your client is confidential, free and carries no obligation, for them or for you. If it is quicker, you can also make a joint call with your client on the line.
We are a modern, technology-enabled practice acting throughout New Zealand, so where your client is based makes no difference to how quickly we can act or how closely we can work with you.
- Direct access to the practitioner who would take the appointment, not a call centre.
- Same-business-day response to referral enquiries.
- A confidential, free, no-obligation first conversation for your client.
- No-names discussions welcome while you scope whether a referral makes sense.
What happens to your client
Honest triage, not a sales process
The first step is a confidential triage of the company's position: cash flow, creditor pressure, the balance sheet and where the real risks sit. Then your client gets an honest assessment of all the options, not a pitch for an appointment.
Every option on the table
We set out the realistic paths, including turnaround where the business is viable, a creditors compromise, voluntary administration, liquidation, and sometimes "do nothing yet and monitor". Each is explained in plain English, with its consequences.
No pressure toward a formal appointment
A referral to us is not a one-way street to liquidation. The decision about what to do next remains with your client, and we never push a formal insolvency process where a lighter step would serve them better.
Plain speaking, both ways
If insolvency is not the answer, we say so plainly, and we say why. Equally, if the position is worse than your client believes, they will hear that too, early enough to act on it.
Senior attention from the start
Appointments are taken by a licensed insolvency practitioner, so the person your client speaks to first is the person accountable for the engagement if one follows.
What you can expect back
You stay part of the picture
A referral should not mean losing sight of your client. With your client's consent, we keep you informed at agreed milestones, whether that is after the first meeting, at the point a course of action is chosen, or at key stages of a formal engagement. You choose the level of involvement that suits you and your client, from a simple courtesy update through to working alongside us on the numbers.
Where a formal appointment follows, our statutory reports are public documents, and we are always available to talk you through what they mean for your client and for you.
Your client relationship is safe
We do not compete with you
Your client's accounting, tax and legal work stays with you. We do insolvency and restructuring; we do not provide compliance, tax or general legal services, and we never will.
That is a deliberate boundary, not a marketing line. Our practice depends on the trust of the accountants, lawyers and bankers who refer to us, and we protect that trust by staying in our lane. Where an engagement ends and the client continues in business, they go back to you.
Independence and conflicts
We check before we accept
Independence is fundamental to how an insolvency practitioner must act. We run a conflict check before accepting any engagement, and we will decline an appointment where our independence is, or could reasonably be seen to be, compromised. If we cannot act, we tell you promptly so your client loses no time finding someone who can.
How we charge
Clear terms, no surprises
- Insolvent appointments: remuneration is charged on a time basis, paid from company assets in accordance with the Companies Act 1993, and disclosed in our statutory reports.
- Written engagement terms are provided before any appointment, so your client knows the basis of our charges up front.
- Solvent liquidations: fixed fees from $6,000.
- The first consultation is always free, for your client and for you.
Standards
Licensed and accountable
In New Zealand, insolvency practitioners are licensed under the Insolvency Practitioners Regulation Act 2019. Licences are issued through an accredited body, the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants (NZICA), which is the regulatory arm of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, with the Restructuring Insolvency & Turnaround Association of New Zealand (RITANZ) acting as the recognised body for the profession.
At Principle Insolvency, appointments are taken by a licensed insolvency practitioner. Kevin Davies is a member of the Restructuring Insolvency & Turnaround Association of New Zealand (RITANZ) and is licensed by Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand. The licensing regime exists to protect creditors, directors and the public, and it sits behind the way every engagement is run.
You can confirm a practitioner's current status at any time on the public register maintained by the New Zealand Companies Office.
Search the Insolvency Practitioners Register (opens in a new window)
Have a client who needs to talk?
Call or email Kevin directly, or make a joint call with your client. The first conversation is confidential, free and without obligation.