Support for Business Owners in Financial Difficulty

Practical, personalised guidance to help you understand your options, reduce risk and make confident decisions when your business is under financial pressure.

We’re Here When It Feels Like Everything’s on the Line

When the bills keep mounting, creditors are calling, and sleep is hard to come by, it can feel like you’re running out of options. You might be worried about losing the family home, how to deal with ATO debt, or what happens if the business can’t keep going. Financial pressure can make every decision feel overwhelming.

At de Jonge Read®, we help business owners and directors navigate financial distress with clarity and confidence. We bring decades of experience, a calm and strategic approach, and a genuine focus on protecting you, your family, and your future. Whether you’re facing tax debt, creditor demands, cashflow problems, or you’re simply unsure what to do next, we’re here to help you take back control.

We don’t offer generic advice. We take the time to understand your situation, assess the risks, and identify the safest and most effective path forward — whether that involves restructuring the business, negotiating with the ATO or creditors, improving asset protection, or exploring formal insolvency options.

We’re not liquidators and we’re not here to judge. Our role is to help you understand your options, reduce personal exposure, and regain certainty at a time when everything feels uncertain.

What truly sets us apart is our ability to not only advise, but to implement — turning strategy into action with precision and care, backed by proven experience and a commitment to achieving the best outcome for you.

Since 2006, we’ve helped more than 7,500 business owners across Australia overcome financial distress, protect their assets, and move forward with confidence.

Get supportive advice from de Jonge Read to protect their family, home, and business during financial stress.

Support That Puts You First

At de Jonge Read®, your best interests always come first. While Insolvency Practitioners and Administrators must act in the interests of creditors, our role is different. We focus on protecting what matters most to you — your family, your home, your business, and your long-term future.

We step in early with practical, straightforward solutions that help you regain control before things escalate. Whether you’re facing ATO debt, mounting bills, cashflow pressure, or the threat of legal action, we take the time to understand your situation, explain your options clearly, and guide you toward the safest and most effective path forward.

Our strategies are personalised to your unique circumstances, supported by decades of experience, and designed to reduce stress, protect your assets, and help you move ahead with confidence.

Insolvency Practitioners

  • Act for creditors, not directors: Their duty is creditor recovery, not protecting you.
  • Focus on formal legal processes: Centred on reports, investigations and compliance.
  • Engage in formal insolvency processes: No strategic guidance, fewer options and increased director risk.
  • Investigate director actions: Your decisions are reviewed for creditor benefit.

The de Jonge Read® Difference

  • Protect your personal position first: Your family, assets and future come before anything else.
  • Act early so you stay in control: Proactive guidance gives you better, safer options.
  • Tailor strategies to your situation: Advice aligned to your goals, not creditor demands.
  • Give clarity in simple terms: Clear, easy guidance so you can make confident decisions.

Our Role in Your Journey

When you are overwhelmed by financial stress, it can feel impossible to see a way forward. The pressure builds, the calls do not stop, and every decision starts to feel heavier than the last. You may be worried about your family home, your business or how much longer you can keep going.

That is where we come in.

At de Jonge Read®, our role is to guide you through this period with calm, clarity and a personalised strategy that protects you rather than the creditors. We help you understand your options, avoid irreversible mistakes and regain control step by step.

Depending on your situation, we may be able to help you:

  • Stop creditor pressure so you can breathe again
  • Deal with tax debt or ATO notices including DPNs and garnishees
  • Avoid liquidation where better alternatives exist
  • Restructure the business to create a stronger financial future
  • Protect your personal assets and reduce personal exposure
  • If the business cannot continue, exit safely with dignity and minimal long-term impact

You will not be doing this alone. We work closely with you and often with your accountant, bookkeeper or advisor to make sure everything is handled correctly and with care.

Our team is here to shoulder the weight with you and help you move forward with confidence.

Why Businesses Trust Us for Pre-Insolvency Solutions and Expert Guidance

  • Expert restructuring and financial advice and tailored strategies from a diverse team to help you gain control and direction.
    Expert Restructuring and Debt Advice for Clarity and Control
  • Compassionate, empathetic and supportive financial guidance from a trusted team.
    Compassionate, Empathetic and Supportive Financial Guidance
  • Strategic financial guidance to help individuals and business owners achieve the best outcomes.
    Strategic Guidance to Achieve Your Best Outcomes
  • Obligation-free written strategic plan with transparent fixed-fee pricing for clarity and confidence.
    Obligation-Free Written Plan with Transparent Fixed-Fee Pricing
  • Helping more than 7,500 business owners and individuals find solutions for financial hardships since 2006
    Helped 7K+ business owners and individuals overcome financial hardships since 2006
  • National presence across Australia providing expert financial solutions for all industries.
    National Presence Supporting All Industries Across Australia

Our Path Forward – How We’ll Work Together

At de Jonge Read®, we believe in transparency and giving you a clear path forward from the moment you reach out. Here is what you can expect when you contact us.

  • Initial review of financial pressures, business risks and personal exposure

    Step 1

    Understanding Your Situation

    Everything begins with a simple conversation. Whether by phone, video call or in person, one of our experienced Strategists will speak with you to understand your current position, the financial pressures you are facing and what matters most to you. This may include protecting your family home, keeping the business afloat or reducing your personal risk.

    We will explore your goals, review the numbers and talk through your concerns in more detail to understand how we can best support you. This is a safe and confidential space to explain what is happening without judgement.

    There is no cost or obligation at this stage. Our focus is to help you understand your situation and what may be possible.

  • Preparation of a personalised restructuring and debt management strategy

    Step 2

    Tailored Strategy with Clear Options

    Once we have a complete picture, we prepare a detailed written strategy that is tailored to your unique circumstances. This document outlines the safest and most effective pathway for you, whether that involves restructuring the business, negotiating with the ATO or creditors or taking steps to limit personal liability.

    This recommendation is normally provided free of charge. Our goal is to give you the clarity you need to make confident and informed decisions about your next steps.

  • Implementation support for restructuring, negotiation and risk reduction steps

    Step 3

    Hands-On Support to Take Action

    If you choose to move ahead, we put the strategy into action.

    We do not hand over advice and leave you to manage it. We work with you. You will be assigned a dedicated Strategy Support Officer who will guide you through every step of the process. Whether it is preparing and lodging documents, handling creditor or ATO negotiations or liaising with your accountant or lawyer, our team manages the details from start to finish.

    We work on a fixed fee and fixed time basis so you always know what to expect. Throughout the process, we stay by your side to ensure the strategy is implemented correctly and effectively, helping you regain control and move forward with confidence.

    Your peace of mind matters to us, and our team is here to support you at every stage.

You’re Not Alone

You’re not the only one feeling overwhelmed, stuck, or unsure of what to do next. We speak to business owners every day who are carrying the same weight and just need a safe place to talk things through.

Whether you’re still trading or already in deep financial stress, there are options. And you don’t have to figure it out on your own.

We’ve helped thousands of people across Australia regain control, reduce pressure, and move forward, with their dignity, family, and future protected. And the earlier you reach out, the more options we’ll have to work with, often before things become irreversible. 

Ready to take the first step?

You’re in Good Hands But Don’t Just Take Our Word for It


The team at de Jonge Read helped me through one of the darkest most difficult times in my life. In no uncertain terms, they helped me to navigate and survive the minefield that is the liquidation process. They made sure that I was kept informed at all times, took care of tasks that I was dreading doing myself, and always took time and effort to help me with the emotional and practical overwhelm that I was dealing with. I could not have gotten through it all without their help, and would encourage anyone facing financial hardship in business to seek them out. Sophie, Amber, and Vicki, I owe you an invaluable debt of gratitude❤️ Clint

Clint

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The team at de Jong Read were able to guide me through a very difficult process and negotiate on my behalf to achieve all of the desired outcomes as initially discussed and planned with them. I have recommended them to others and will continue to do so, simply put, they did what they said.

Matthew

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Highly recommend – The team at de Jong Read have helped me through a really uncertain time. I’ve come out completely reassured and ready to move past one of the more difficult things I’ve ever had to go through. Excellent communication, very professional but also personal, everything you can ask for.

Katie

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We got our lives back, thank God for De Jonge Read – If you are in need of assistance with your business financial stresses, done everything you can but just dont know how to move through it, the team at DeJonge Read will HELP! They held our hand the whole way through to the other side. Weve got our lives back, and worth the time and little dollars spent with them. A pure God sent!!!! Remember business is in tough times, you are not alone in this (and it’s just not your fault - Covid, cost of living crisis, landlords, ATO etc killed business) sometimes you just have to hand it over to professionals to help you make tough decisions, that ultimately give you a better quality of life and peace.

Twinnie Cafe Owners

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Great support and help during my challenging time – I strongly advice ‘de Jong Read’ for any financial difficulties or adversities you come across in your business. After running business successfully for 12 years, my business got affected badly during Covid and it never got recovered after that and I had to gone through a difficult time. I was extremely nervous and scared about the consequences and the complexities of the liquidation process but fortunately I got in touch with De Jong Read. It was one of the best decisions of my life. My representatives have been Amber and Vicki and I feel so lucky to get such an amazing and professional representation. I have no words to thank them to make me feel as I have someone stand by me all the time during my difficult time. Thank you so much Amber and Vicki. Keep supporting people in difficult time especially now a days as it is not easy to run small business in Australia due to extremely high labour cost and overhead costs. There are so many people would need your support. You both are amazing ..!!!

Gagan Sidhu

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Great company that know their stuff - get in early and talk to them, don't let things get out of your control – We were referred to De Jonge Read by a friend in a time of much unease for our family. They lifted the stress of all the unknowns and managed to keep up in front of any obstacle that came to us. Shutting down the way we had too was very confronting and left a lump in our throat pretty much 24/7 but with the team at De Jonge Read continually checking in and getting all the paperwork side of things done it made our lives a lot more liveable. We were very unaware of what was avaiable to us and also what paths we could take legally as the only other advice we had to go of as some information from a "friend of a friend" and nothing to back it up. DJR were clear about any implcation, any miss directed advice and had a very firm understanding on where we had to draw a line. The best thing we did was get them on board early, this allowed us to control the narrative rather than play catch up.

Margret

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We’re proud to have a ⭐ 5.0-star rating on ProductReview.com.au, with hundreds of clients sharing their experience working with de Jonge Read. Read more here

Ready to explore your options, contact our team today.