The Sounds of the Baskerville

Hosted by Thesolvers.com.au

BusinessInterviews guests

Website RSS feed

Episodes

131

Latest episode

Nov 2026

Language

About the show

That's info-tainment! Chris Baskerville is an astute businessman, Chartered Accountant, Liquidator, Bankruptcy Trustee and State Managing Partner of a national firm. Chris is also able to share his expertise and experience in an entertaining and informative way. James Flaherty talks with the showman himself. You may laugh, you may cry, you may throw things at whatever device is playing this podcast . Tune in and join in.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

November 11, 2026Episode 13119 min

131. Ignore It Until You Can't

Every director has heard of insolvent trading. Almost none of them can tell you what their actual duties are. James Flaherty asks Chris Baskerville what insolvent trading really is, and the answer is lower than most people think: the test is suspicion, not knowledge. Chris explains why there is no such thing as a silent director, and the three types the law recognises: the director on ASIC’s record, the de facto director, and the shadow director, who could be a lender simply telling the board how to run things. Then the part every director should hear before the letter arrives. Chris walks through what a liquidator’s demand looks like, the three ways a director can respond, and what happens to the assertion if you ignore it. He also admits he could easily sue 90% of the directors who come through his liquidations, and explains the one thing that stops most claims in their tracks.

October 21, 2026Episode 13019 min

130. Whose Money Is It Anyway?

The company card is in your spouse’s wallet. When the company collapses, the liquidator is the one reading the statements. Chris Baskerville and James Flaherty dig into what happens when a director’s family treats company money as their own. Chris explains why a liquidator looks at every transaction from more than one angle, and recalls chasing a director who had taken hundreds of thousands out of a local service business, most of it spent on overseas holidays. Then the trap most trade businesses walk into: Division 7A loans. Chris explains how a director can get hit twice, once by the liquidator for the loan and again by the ATO for a deemed dividend. He also pinpoints the 18-month to three-year window when the toys get bought, and the tax bill is still coming.

September 23, 2026Episode 12917 min

129. 500 Companies, One Collapse

Chris Baskerville breaks down the Bathla Group collapse, a $3.4 billion construction failure with 500 companies in the group and 12,000 stakeholders exposed. He walks through why administrators had to borrow money just to start the job, why the state government refused to fund the fallout, and what happens when secured lenders decide whether to keep funding a project just to limit their own losses. Chris draws a direct line to the 2018 Carillion collapse in the UK, which added 20% to construction failure rates over the following two years, and asks whether Bathla could trigger something similar concentrated in New South Wales. He also digs into the rise of private credit filling the gap banks have retreated from, and what that means if property values don't hold up under the debt sitting on top of them.

September 16, 2026Episode 12817 min

128. Ten Million a Year: The Case for Starting a Business

Chris Baskerville and James Flaherty tackle the question every director eventually asks: is it actually worth it? Chris argues that a business is only valuable once it can run without you, generating cash on its own so your time is finally yours again. They dig into the compliance load that's grown heavier every season this show has run, from personal liability for super to jail time now on the table for failing to lodge tax returns. Chris also flags a wave coming for baby boomer business owners with no successor lined up, and what happens when a business is worth nothing without the person running it. Then the story that reframes the whole conversation: a business bought out of voluntary administration for half a million dollars, sold ten years later for nearly a hundred million. Chris breaks down what that number actually means per year worked, and why he still calls himself pro-business despite the job title.

August 14, 2026Episode 12721 min

127. 7 Lessons from ASIC's Biggest Restructuring Review

ASIC's biggest ever review of voluntary administration is out, covering 5,000 companies over four years. Chris Baskerville and James Flaherty pull seven lessons from it, and the numbers reframe how VA and SBR sit next to each other. Bigger companies restructure more successfully, but 15% of VAs still had debts under $250,000. VAs' share of external administration has dropped from a third to just 10% since SBR arrived, and two-thirds of DOCA proposals now involve a third party funding the deal rather than the company itself. The related-party voting rules also work in opposite directions between VA and SBR, which changes how a proposal gets built.

July 30, 2026Episode 12619 min

126. Why SBRs Are Losing the Room

SBR numbers have nearly halved. Acceptance rates have dropped from 80% to the mid-60s, then jumped the moment the 2026 budget landed. Chris Baskerville and James Flaherty ask why, and what it's costing. Creditors want more now. Twenty cents in the dollar used to cut it. Now it's closer to 30, and even generous offers are getting knocked back. Chris breaks down the real maths: when does an SBR actually beat just paying the tax debt outright? The pair also put a dollar figure on what's being left on the table when a plan doesn't go ahead, and it's not small change. They make the case for lifting the $1 million threshold, with a pointed message to the ATO about consistency along the way. If you've ever wondered whether an SBR stacks up, this one's got the numbers.

July 8, 2026Episode 12517 min

125. Does Anyone Actually Want This

In this episode of The Sounds of the Baskerville, Chris Baskerville and James Flaherty take a fascinating detour into the world of business ideas. The good, the bad, and the ones that consume everything a founder has and still don't fly. From zombie unicorns burning through venture capital to the classic small business trap of pouring personal savings into a product the market never actually wanted, Chris and James explore why passion alone is never enough. Chris unpacks what the ideal business actually looks like, one that makes money while you sleep, and why the greatest risk for any founder is failing to ask the market one simple question: does anyone actually want this?

July 1, 2026Episode 12419 min

124. It's All on You

In this episode of The Sounds of the Baskerville, Chris Baskerville and James Flaherty explore one of the great inequalities in Australian business, the stark difference between what's at stake for a small business director versus the director of a large corporation when things go wrong. Chris unpacks why small business owners intertwine their entire lives. Family home, personal assets, reputation. With their company, while large company directors often walk away unscathed, protected by governance structures, D&O insurance, and other people's capital. He also shares a sobering war story about a brilliant manufacturer undone by stepping away for too long.

June 23, 2026Episode 12317 min

123. You Guys Need to Get Busy

In this episode of The Sounds of the Baskerville, Chris Baskerville and James Flaherty pick up where they left off, exploring the wave of business distress building across Australia and what it really means for directors, accountants, and advisors navigating an increasingly complex environment. Chris unpacks the psychology of the director who holds on until the bitter end, why accountants are bearing the brunt of every new tax change, and what the rise of AI actually means for the professions built around numbers and judgment. The message isn't panic. It's adaptation. Survival of the most adaptable, not the fittest.

June 16, 2026Episode 12214 min

122. You Guys Are Going to Be Busy

In this episode of The Sounds of the Baskerville, Chris Baskerville and James Flaherty take stock of where Australian small businesses find themselves right now. Budget changes, tightening capital gains tax concessions, a harder ATO, and rising interest rates on second-tier lending have quietly closed the escape hatch that many directors have been relying on — drawing equity from the family home to prop up a leaking business. Chris unpacks why pouring money into a broken business model is just buying time, not buying survival. He also pulls back the curtain on what insolvency practitioners actually do — and why the directors who call early get options, while those who wait until the plane is nosediving pay a much steeper price.