Company collapses in Western Australia are at an all-time high and corporate insolvencies are only tipped to increase over the short term, a new report says.
Taylor Woodings' analysis of the latest insolvency figures from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission showed the 72 company collapses in March in WA were just above the former record level, 70, from May 2009.
Nationally, collapses increased by 14 per cent from the previous month in March, from 852 to 968.
Company failures dure to creditor winding up applications also hit an all time high of 451, up 26 per cent on the previous month.
Voluntary administrations were at their lowest level for 10 years at 129.
Taylor Woodings tipped the high levels of corporate collapses to continue.
"We anticipate insolvency figures will continue to be quite high in April as business conditions remain challenging, particularly for SMEs, with average payment terms trending upwards, a consistently high Australian dollar and subdued consumer sentiment," the company said.
"Of note, the April figures will likely be deceptively lower due to fewer business days during the month this year.
"In the medium term, we expect insolvencies to remain at these historically high levels, particularly if official interest rates rise.
"As the RBA signalled this week, future increases are likely due to the expected continued growth in inflation, further impacting consumer confidence."