Company external administration status and documents

Check whether an Australian company is in liquidation, administration or receivership by ACN, with the appointed liquidators and ASIC documents.

Company external administration

A company is under external administration when a liquidator, voluntary administrator, deed administrator, receiver, controller or restructuring practitioner has been appointed to it. ASIC records the appointment as an office holder role and changes the company's status to EXAD, and it collects the documents lodged during the process (Form 505 notices of appointment, Form 5011 minutes, Form 5603 end of administration returns and so on) into a dedicated section of the company extract. This endpoint brings both together so you can check a company's insolvency status, identify the appointees and list the related documents in one call. The data comes from a company extract you have already purchased with POST /v1/companies/{id}/extracts and is read back for free, as described in the purchasing guide. To check only whether the status is EXAD, the free company record is enough.

GEThttps://api.asicapi.dev/v1/companies/{id}/external-administration

curl https://api.asicapi.dev/v1/companies/004249987/external-administration \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ASICAPI_KEY"

Example response

Response

{
  "object": "externalAdministration",
  "company": {
    "acn": "004249987",
    "formatted": "004 249 987",
    "numberType": { "code": "ACN", "label": "Australian Company Number" },
    "name": "ACME DISTRIBUTION PTY LTD",
    "type": { "code": "APTY", "label": "Australian Proprietary Company" },
    "status": { "code": "EXAD", "label": "** Under External Administration And/Or Controller Appointed **" },
    "abn": "68004249987",
    "registeredCharity": false
  },
  "status": { "code": "EXAD", "label": "** Under External Administration And/Or Controller Appointed **" },
  "underExternalAdministration": true,
  "appointees": [
    {
      "object": "officeholder",
      "role": { "code": "VQ", "label": "Appointed Liquidator (Creditors Voluntary Winding Up)" },
      "status": { "code": "C", "label": "Current" },
      "appointedAt": "2024-04-15",
      "ceasedAt": null,
      "party": {
        "type": "person",
        "person": { "familyName": "CHEN", "givenNames": ["MICHAEL", "JAMES"], "formatted": "MICHAEL JAMES CHEN" },
        "birth": { "date": null, "locality": null, "stateOrCountry": null },
        "organisation": null
      },
      "address": {
        "careOf": "C/- EXAMPLE INSOLVENCY PARTNERS",
        "line1": "LEVEL 11",
        "street": "60 CITY ROAD",
        "locality": "SOUTHBANK",
        "state": "VIC",
        "postcode": "3006",
        "country": "AUSTRALIA"
      },
      "sourceDocument": { "documentNumber": "2E3344556", "qualifier": null },
      "cessationDocuments": [],
      "court": null
    }
  ],
  "documents": [
    {
      "object": "document",
      "documentNumber": "2E3344590",
      "formCode": "5603",
      "formDescription": "End of administration return",
      "subForms": [],
      "receivedAt": "2025-06-30",
      "processedAt": "2025-07-01",
      "effectiveAt": "2025-06-30",
      "qualifier": null,
      "pageCount": 8,
      "imaged": true,
      "underRequisition": false,
      "xbrlAvailable": false,
      "xbrlDocumentNumber": null,
      "status": null,
      "priced": true
    },
    {
      "object": "document",
      "documentNumber": "2E3344560",
      "formCode": "5011",
      "formDescription": "Copy of minutes of meeting",
      "subForms": [
        { "code": "5011B", "description": "Minutes of meeting of creditors" }
      ],
      "receivedAt": "2024-05-10",
      "processedAt": "2024-05-13",
      "effectiveAt": "2024-05-06",
      "qualifier": null,
      "pageCount": 5,
      "imaged": true,
      "underRequisition": false,
      "xbrlAvailable": false,
      "xbrlDocumentNumber": null,
      "status": null,
      "priced": true
    },
    {
      "object": "document",
      "documentNumber": "2E3344556",
      "formCode": "505",
      "formDescription": "Notification of appointment or cessation of an external administrator",
      "subForms": [
        { "code": "505U", "description": "Appointment of liquidator by creditors voluntary winding up" }
      ],
      "receivedAt": "2024-04-16",
      "processedAt": "2024-04-17",
      "effectiveAt": "2024-04-15",
      "qualifier": null,
      "pageCount": 2,
      "imaged": true,
      "underRequisition": false,
      "xbrlAvailable": false,
      "xbrlDocumentNumber": null,
      "status": null,
      "priced": true
    },
    {
      "object": "document",
      "documentNumber": "2E3344555",
      "formCode": "205",
      "formDescription": "Notification of resolution",
      "subForms": [
        { "code": "205A", "description": "Special resolution to wind up voluntarily" }
      ],
      "receivedAt": "2024-04-16",
      "processedAt": "2024-04-17",
      "effectiveAt": "2024-04-15",
      "qualifier": null,
      "pageCount": 2,
      "imaged": true,
      "underRequisition": false,
      "xbrlAvailable": false,
      "xbrlDocumentNumber": null,
      "status": null,
      "priced": true
    }
  ],
  "extract": {
    "id": "ext_01J9AF8K3W1DT9",
    "type": "current",
    "purchasedAt": "2026-09-04T03:18:10Z",
    "asOf": "2026-09-04T03:18:08Z"
  },
  "meta": { "billable": false, "product": null, "requestId": "req_01J8ZKE1F2G3H4J" }
}

Response fields

Field	Type	Description
`object`	string	Always `externalAdministration`.
`company`	object	Summary of the company as recorded in the extract.
`status`	code	The company's organisation status at `extract.asOf`. `EXAD` means under external administration and/or controller appointed. Other statuses (`REGD`, `SOFF`, `DRGD`) indicate the company was not in external administration when the extract was produced.
`underExternalAdministration`	boolean	`true` when `status.code` is `EXAD`.
`appointees[]`	officeholder[]	Office holders with external administration roles, in the same shape and order as the office holders endpoint. Roles include `AQ`, `CQ`, `MQ`, `VQ`, `PQ`, `OQ` (liquidators), `AC`, `AD` (administrators), `RC`, `RM`, `CR`, `MC` (receivers and controllers), `OM`, `DM`, `CM` (official managers), `SM` (scheme manager), `BI` (simplified liquidation), `BM`, `BP` (restructuring practitioners). Ceased appointees are only present in a historical extract and only returned with `status=former` or `all`.
`appointees[].party.birth`	birth	Birth details of the appointee. Registered liquidators' birth details are often not recorded, in which case all three fields are `null`.
`documents[]`	document[]	Documents relating to external administration and/or appointment of a controller, newest first. Same shape as the company documents list, including `subForms`. `status` is `null` because ASIC does not supply form status in this section. Empty when the company was not under external administration at `extract.asOf`.
`extract`	object	The extract the data was read from: `id`, `type` (`current` or `historical`), `purchasedAt` and `asOf`. An appointment notified after `asOf` is not reflected.
`meta.billable`	boolean	Always `false`. Reading an extract you hold is free.
`meta.product`	string or null	Always `null`.
`meta.requestId`	string	Request identifier.

Errors

Code	HTTP	When it occurs
`extract_required`	402	You hold no unexpired extract for this company, or you asked for `status=former` or `status=all` and only hold a current extract. `error.details.purchase` gives the request to make.
`extract_not_found`	404	The `extract` id does not exist on your account.
`extract_expired`	410	The `extract` id refers to an extract older than 12 months.
`extract_owner_mismatch`	403	The `extract` id belongs to a different account, or is not an extract of this company.
`acn_invalid`	400	The number fails the ASIC check digit test.
`company_not_found`	404	No organisation with this identifier.
`abn_invalid`	400	The ABN fails its check digit test.
`abn_not_acn_based`	400	The ABN does not embed an ACN.
`abn_not_found`	404	No company matches the ACN embedded in the ABN.
`extract_unavailable_for_type`	422	ASIC does not issue extracts for this organisation type.
`validation_error`	422	Unknown `status` value.
`unauthorized`	401	Missing or invalid API key.
`rate_limited`	429	Rate limit exceeded.
`asic_unavailable`	503	The ASIC register is offline.

Notes from the ASIC register

Snapshot. Status, appointees and documents reflect the register at extract.asOf. A company placed into liquidation after that date still shows as REGD here until you purchase a new extract. For monitoring, compare the free company record, which is always live, before deciding to buy.
The EXAD status trigger. ASIC includes the external administration documents section in a company extract only when the organisation status is EXAD. For any other status documents is empty, even if the company was previously in administration; the historical documents remain in the full document list.
Status notice. Where the status is EXAD, ASIC's printed extract says: For information about this status refer to the documents listed under the heading "External Administration and/or appointment of Controller", below.
Incomplete document lists. ASIC heads the section with: Documents relating to External Administration and/or appointment of Controller. This extract may not list all documents relating to this status. State and Territory records should be searched. Appointments made before 1991 and some court-ordered windings up may be recorded only with state authorities.
Appointment roles. The role code tells you the kind of administration: VQ creditors' voluntary winding up, MQ members' voluntary winding up, CQ court winding up, PQ provisional liquidation, AC voluntary administration, AD deed of company arrangement, RC, RM, CR, MC receivership or other controllership, BM and BP small business restructuring. See office holder roles.
Deregistration after liquidation. When a liquidation completes and the company is deregistered, status changes to DRGD with a deregistration reason such as S509 or S601AB, and this section becomes empty in any extract purchased afterwards. Check deregistration on the company record.
Weekly summaries. ASIC publishes a weekly list of external administrations commenced. Use the external-administrations weekly summary to monitor new appointments across all companies rather than buying extracts for individual ACNs.
Form 505. Most appointments and cessations are notified on Form 505. Form 5601 (annual administration return) and Form 5603 (end of administration return) report on progress and completion.

Company external administration status and documents