The two key stakeholders in a voluntary administration are the existing owners/management and creditors. The key disadvantage for existing owners/management is that they lose control of the business when they appoint a voluntary administrator. The administrator then has a discretionary decision about whether to allow the business to continue to trade and whether to support a compromise proposal (through a deed of company arrangement). The key disadvantage for creditors occurs when a business is not viable and the directors do not intend to put money towards a deed of company arrangement. In these circumstances it is likely that a voluntary administration will progress to a liquidation and that the overall costs of the external administration process will be higher. That will be likely to reduce the returns to creditors due to the double-up of a voluntary administration process and a liquidation process.