Companies hit with $4m fines for alleged financial report lodgement failures

According to the corporate regulator, the notices were issued as part of ASIC’s ongoing surveillance and enforcement work focused on financial reporting compliance.

Each infringement notice is $198,000, totalling $4,356,000 across the 22 companies, which they have paid in full.

The 22 companies slapped with infringement notices are:

• Belgravia Group (leisure, clothing sales and financial services)
• Bizcap AU (non-bank lending)
• Coral Homes (residential construction)
• Directed Electronics Australia (electronics distribution)
• Downward Spiral Enterprises (Tas) (museum, hospitality and events)
• East Yarra Friendly Society (pharmacy retail)
• Hemmes Group (hospitality)
• Ingram Micro Holdings (Australia) (information technology)
• Jolimont Development Finance (civil construction)
• JQZ Holdings (property development)
• JQZ Treasury (property development)
• Magi Enterprises (fashion retail)
• Menzies Aviation Holdings (Australia) (airport services)
• Outdoor Adventure Holdings (bicycle retail and distribution)
• Pernod Ricard Pacific Holding (champagne and spirits retail)
• Prouds Jewellers (jewellery and watches retail)
• Spendless Shoes (footwear retail)
• Swanston Street Holdings (building and construction)
• The Shoe Group (footwear retail)
• Think Tank Group (commercial and residential property finance)
• Uhrig Road Development (property development)
• Winslow Constructors (civil construction)

Payment of an infringement notice does not constitute an admission of guilt or liability. ASIC’s investigation remains ongoing where companies have paid an infringement notice but still have outstanding financial reporting obligations.

Since commencing its data-focused surveillance of large proprietary companies and other types of entities in August 2025, ASIC has received payment for 70 infringement notices totalling more than $13.7 million.

Alongside this, it has obtained court-imposed fines for failing to lodge financial reports and related governance obligations.

This included more than $1.1 million in fines against three public companies in a single day at the Downing Centre Local Court.

In 2026, ASIC engaged with 234 companies operating across a broad range of sectors, including lending, retail, hospitality, construction, logistics, resources, health, insurance and technology.

Out of these companies, 82 per cent, or 193, had allegedly failed to lodge financial reports for the 2025 financial year. Following ASIC’s queries, 147 companies lodged one or more outstanding financial reports primarily in the retail, construction, and resources sectors. ASIC said the remaining companies are in the process of lodging their reports.

ASIC noted that, concerningly, some companies were not aware of their lodgement obligations until ASIC contacted them.

Other reasons given for non-lodgement included audit-related issues, administrative oversight, and inadequate resources to prepare financial reports.

Companies that have financial reporting obligations include large proprietary companies, foreign-controlled companies, public companies, companies with crowd-sourced funding shareholders (CSF), registered managed investment schemes, and registrable superannuation entities.

Annual financial reports, directors’ reports and auditors’ reports must generally be lodged with ASIC within three months after financial year-end for disclosing entities, registered schemes and registrable superannuation entities, and within four months for other entities required to lodge.

ASIC commissioner Kate O'Rourke said: “Timely financial reporting gives shareholders, creditors and others dealing with a company important information about its financial position and performance, helping them make informed decisions.

“Our enforcement actions over the past year send a clear message – companies must meet their financial reporting obligations and should not assume that non-compliance will go undetected. We will continue our data-focused surveillance into 2027 and will not hesitate to take further enforcement action.

“Directors are accountable for ensuring their company meets its financial reporting obligations. We call on directors to regularly review those obligations and ensure required reports are prepared, audited and lodged on time, without waiting for ASIC to intervene.”

ASIC urged entities to regularly review their reporting obligations and applicable deadlines, particularly after any change to their size, corporate structure, ownership, or operations.