How to read these records

Which companies

Three tests, all from the ACRA file: the status begins with “In Liquidation”; the company is a private or public company limited by shares that is not an exempt private company; and its last annual return dates from 2019 or later.

Kinds of winding up

Members' voluntary: the company is solvent and its shareholders close it. Creditors' voluntary: it cannot pay its debts and winds up without a court order. Compulsory: a court ordered it.

Not a measure of size

The open register carries no headcount and no accounts. Leaving out exempt private companies removes the smallest closely held ones, nothing more. Many companies here are holding companies with no staff.

What is not here

Names of liquidators, directors or any individual. Dissolved and struck-off companies. Exempt private companies. Sole proprietorships and partnerships.