Consider the case of a domestic property management firm that, over a period of some 30 years, built up a profitable business managing the sale, purchase, and rental of domestic properties in several fashionable suburbs in an Australian state capital city. The business principal bought into the business at a relatively young age and with little business management acumen, yet was full of ambition and showmanship.
The business owners, of what had always been a profitable enterprise, became aware that it was experiencing some increasingly serious financial problems. Letters of demand were received from contractors engaged in the maintenance of and repairs to rental properties managed by the firm, complaining of non-payment of their work. Clients complained that monies placed in trust funds as part of the sale and purchase of listed properties were not cleared within stipulated periods. Letters from...