Business debt review: how to rank every debt in one evening

Most owners who end up in a difficult conversation with a creditor never sat down and looked at the whole picture. The mortgage lives in one app, the equipment loan in another, supplier accounts in the accounting file, and the tax position in a portal you open twice a year. A business debt review pulls it onto one page, and it’s far easier to do before the first formal letter than after.

What does a business debt review actually involve?

It’s one sheet, built in one evening, with a row for every debt and obligation. Not a budget, and not a plan yet. Just the facts, in the same order for every line.

You need your accounting file, the last three months of bank statements, loan and lease paperwork, and your ATO account balances by tax type. If you haven’t got the documents together, start with the debt rescue document pack and come back.

Build the sheet with these columns:

Column	What to write
Creditor	Who is owed, and the account or reference
Balance	What’s owed today, including arrears
Next date	The next payment date or any deadline stated in a letter
Status	Current, behind, in dispute, or under a formal notice
Security	Property, equipment, a general security agreement, or none
Guarantee	Whether you’ve personally guaranteed it
Monthly cost	What it takes out of cash flow each month

Include the unglamorous lines: credit cards used for the business, director loan accounts, rent and outgoings, supplier accounts on terms, wages and super due this month, and a line for the household mortgage if your home secures anything in the business.

How do I rank debts: by size, by interest or by deadline?

None of those. Rank by two questions, in this order.

1. What is the next dated consequence? A statutory demand, a court claim, a bankruptcy notice, a director penalty notice or a default notice each carries a date. Debts with a printed clock outrank everything else, even when the balance is small. Our debt letter triage tool counts the days for the main notices.
2. What’s at risk if it’s missed? A trade supplier cutting your credit hurts. A lender enforcing security over your home, or a creditor calling on a personal guarantee, is a different order of problem.

Score each row on both, and a clear ranking appears within minutes. Most owners are surprised: the debt they dread most is often not the one with the nearest date.

A practical sort order that holds up for most small businesses:

1. Anything under a legal notice, with a date.
2. Wages, super and withheld tax, because the exposure can become personal for a director.
3. Debts secured on property, or guaranteed by you.
4. Premises and equipment you can’t operate without.
5. Suppliers on terms, then everything else.

That’s the same logic behind the which-debt-first sorter and the multiple creditors guide, so you can check your own ranking against it.

Which debts should I flag as “exposed”?

Highlight in a second colour every row where the answer to any of these is yes:

• Is it secured on a property you or a family member own?
• Have you signed a personal guarantee, or a director’s guarantee on a lease or supplier account?
• Is it behind and covered by a default or demand clause?
• Could missing it trigger another debt (cross-default on a bank facility is common)?

Exposed rows are where time matters most, because the downside runs past the business. They’re also the rows where funding is most likely to help. A debt backed by property can often be refinanced against that same property, a very different conversation from an unsecured trade debt.

What changed in 2025 and 2026 that belongs on the list?

Three current rules change how the sheet should look.

Payday super. From 1 July 2026, super must reach your employees’ funds within 7 business days of payday, rather than being paid quarterly. Put a rolling row on your sheet for “super due after each pay run”. A late payment creates a super guarantee charge on top of the contribution, and the ATO explains how payday super works on its site. If you’re already behind, see our unpaid super page.

ATO interest is no longer deductible. General interest charge and shortfall interest charge on ATO debts stopped being deductible from 1 July 2025. So an ATO balance that quietly attracts interest costs more after tax than it used to. That changes the maths when you compare leaving a balance on a payment plan with clearing it from other funds.

Online payment plans. The ATO says you can set up a plan online if you owe $200,000 or less, and its payment plan page sets out what you need first. If an ATO balance is on your sheet, note whether it’s on a plan, and the instalment dates, because a missed instalment can cancel the arrangement. This guide treats tax as one line on the sheet. If tax is your main issue, the ATO is the right first call.

Which debts need a conversation, and which need a fix?

This is where the review pays for the evening. Go down the ranked list and tag each row with one of three labels.

Lodge or fix. The debt is behind because something wasn’t lodged or reconciled. A BAS or a super report that’s unfiled can turn a manageable position into a firmer one. No funding solves that; lodging does.

Talk. The debt is manageable if the terms change. Landlords, suppliers and some lenders will agree to a written proposal, such as a short arrears plan or a pause, if you approach them before the notice stage, with figures. Keep proposals short, specific and in writing.

Fund. The debt sits with others that are individually workable but together too heavy, or a costly short-term debt sits next to property with equity in it. Here, one refinance or consolidation can replace several repayments with one, and can raise cash to settle a creditor at a discount. Property-secured funding can range from $20,000 to $5,000,000, and unsecured cash-flow facilities are typically $5,000 to $500,000, sized on turnover and bank statements. Whether either suits depends on your security, your documents and how many days you have left.

Being honest about the third label matters. A review sometimes shows the business can’t carry the debt even after refinancing, and the right call is a formal process. ASIC’s guidance for directors explains the options and the duties that apply. Better to know that early than to learn it from a creditor.

A worked example (illustrative only)

An owner of a small trade business has a home mortgage, an equipment loan, a business overdraft, three supplier accounts, a credit card used for fuel and materials, and a month of super about to fall due.

On the sheet, one supplier has sent a letter of demand with a 14-day deadline. The equipment loan is current. The overdraft is at its limit and is guaranteed by the owner. The tax account is on a payment plan that’s been kept up.

Ranked, the supplier demand is first, because it has a date and could lead to a court claim. Super is second. The overdraft is third, because it’s guaranteed and at its limit, so any slip could prompt the bank to act. The sheet also shows that the credit card, the overdraft and two suppliers are all costly short-term borrowing, while the owner holds equity in a commercial property.

That points to a fund label: a property-secured facility to clear the overdraft, the card and the settled supplier balance, replacing four payments with one. It might not work out, since valuation, title and documents all matter, but the review made the decision clear in one evening rather than by default.

Where can I get a free second opinion?

The Small Business Debt Helpline is free, independent and confidential, staffed by small business financial counsellors. It’s on 1800 413 828, open 9am to 5:30pm Monday to Friday, and covers loan repayments, paying suppliers, tax and BAS, leases and bankruptcy or insolvency. Your accountant can tighten the numbers. Take your sheet to either, and the conversation starts from facts.

If your sheet shows exposed rows with property behind them, tell us what’s on it. A person looks at the security, the documents and the dates to see whether funding is realistic, and says so plainly if it isn’t.

What do I do with the sheet next?

Put the top three rows on your calendar with the date and the action: lodge, call or fund. Review the sheet on the first of each month; it takes ten minutes once it exists. Pair it with the monthly cash-trouble check so early drift gets noticed.

Finished the list and not sure what it’s telling you?

Most owners who build this sheet find one or two rows that deserve a closer look: a guaranteed overdraft at its limit, a bill with a date on it, or a pile of small repayments adding up to a big monthly drain. That’s the moment to find out where you stand, not after the letter.

Telling us about your situation takes about 60 seconds, and there’s no credit check when you enquire, so your credit file stays untouched just for asking. We don’t pass your details around a pile of lenders, so your phone won’t light up. A real person reads your enquiry, looks at your individual position, and calls you. Fill the form in as accurately as you can, with the real debts, security and dates, so we can match the right option first time.

See where you stand →