The invoice date may not identify when the disputed trading debt was incurred

The review groups every debt by invoice month

An adviser is assessing possible insolvent trading, and your first schedule sorts supplier debts by invoice date. Explain how that schedule was prepared and provide the underlying transaction history. The invoice date is a useful record, but do not assume it necessarily identifies the legally relevant point when each obligation was incurred. That question needs assessment of the actual agreement and events.

Collect the commitment sequence

For the particular debt, gather the quotation, order, acceptance, relevant terms, delivery or work records and invoice. Include amendments or later instructions that may change the position. Preserve the dates each document actually shows. Distinguish the date an invoice was issued from when accounts received or entered it; those administrative events can be different again.

Keep the legal question with the adviser

ASIC's directors guidance addresses the duty to prevent the company incurring debt while insolvent. Ask the lawyer how the relevant rules apply to this transaction. The guidance does not let a bookkeeper determine the incurrence date from a single report column. Do not assign every debt to the earliest event, either; the contractual facts need proper analysis.

Source: ASIC: Insolvency for directors

Consider a hypothetical cross-month order

Imagine goods ordered and accepted in April, delivered in May and invoiced in June. A report labelled June debts may be accurate as an invoice listing while unsuitable as a legal chronology without explanation. Give the adviser all three events and the terms. This example does not decide which event creates the debt or whether the company was insolvent at any of those times.

Identify different components separately

If an invoice combines an original purchase and later extra work, show their supporting records rather than forcing both into one assumed commitment date. Mark unresolved details and ask what evidence is needed. Do not alter invoices, recreate acceptances or move accounting dates to improve the apparent position. Any genuine accounting correction should retain its transparent basis and history.

Use the assessed chronology consistently

Keep the lawyer's questions, supporting documents and resulting advice linked to the transaction schedule. Maintain a separate account of what directors knew and when, because that is not identical to the sequence creating an obligation. A reliable review distinguishes those questions instead of treating the month printed on the invoice as the answer to every aspect of potential exposure.