Business Failure Risk Index: company administrations by industry

Company administration counts differ across industries

Construction produced the largest number of companies entering external administration in 2025 to 26, but mining recorded the highest count relative to its broad population of active businesses. Accommodation and food services ranked second on that adjusted measure.

The index combines ASIC Series 1 company administration records with ABS active business counts. It expresses administrations per 10,000 active businesses, creating a comparable exposure indicator while preserving an important warning: the numerator and denominator cover different legal populations.

The industries with the highest adjusted readings

Construction ranks seventh in the full industry index despite having the largest raw administration count. An earlier selected chart omitted Public Administration and Safety; the complete table above includes every retained industry.

Mining recorded 187 company administrations against 8,663 active businesses, producing an index reading of 215.9 per 10,000. Accommodation and food services recorded 2,052 administrations and a rate of 181.7, while utilities reached 177.0.

Information media and telecommunications recorded 103.0, other services 101.4, construction 73.5 and manufacturing 72.9. Construction’s raw total was much larger because the ABS counted 462,939 active construction businesses at June 2025.

At the lower end, agriculture recorded 10.5 administrations per 10,000 active businesses, rental and real estate services 16.9, and health care and social assistance 21.5. A lower index reading does not mean businesses in those industries are safe, only that the observed company administration count was smaller relative to the selected denominator.

Why this is an index, not a probability of failure

ASIC Series 1 measures companies entering external administration. The ABS denominator includes active businesses across legal structures, including many sole traders that cannot appear as companies in the ASIC numerator. Industries with many non company businesses can therefore look artificially safer.

The dates differ as well. The numerator covers the 2025 to 26 financial year records available through 5 July 2026, while this edition holds the denominator fixed at June 2025 for comparability with the original index. ASIC also marks recent data as provisional and may revise records as appointments are lodged or corrected.

For those reasons, the index is best used to compare pressure across industries and monitor direction over time. It should not be read as saying that 2.16 per cent of mining businesses failed, nor should it predict whether an individual company will remain solvent.

Cash flow lessons behind the rankings

Industries near the top often combine volatile revenue, fixed commitments and limited room to delay payments. Accommodation operators carry rent, wages and utilities through weak trading periods. Construction businesses may fund labour and materials well before progress claims are approved.

A business in a higher pressure industry can respond without assuming failure is inevitable. Forecast covenant and tax payments alongside ordinary suppliers, stress test a revenue decline, and identify the point at which a short term facility merely postpones a structural loss.

External finance is most useful when it bridges a measurable timing gap or funds an asset that produces enough cash to service the debt. Borrowing to cover recurring losses deserves a different conversation with an accountant or restructuring adviser, especially when statutory debts are already overdue.

Early warning is more valuable than the ranking

Owners can monitor a small group of indicators before pressure becomes an insolvency event: tax arrears that rise each month, suppliers moving the business to cash on delivery, repeated limit excesses and payroll funded from new debt. No single signal proves insolvency. Several moving together deserve prompt attention. ASIC’s statistics record the formal endpoint, while management accounts can show the deterioration months earlier and preserve more options for directors, employees and creditors.

That distinction is the practical value of the index.