An ACT Supreme Court judge on Thursday told Nicholas Thomas Oettinger, 33, the court was ''quite unimpressed'' with his misconduct and lack of insight into the crime.

But Chief Justice Helen Murrell said she would give Oettinger the ''benefit of the doubt'', making a non-conviction order, and placing him on a two-year good behaviour order. A conviction would have disqualified him from acting as a director and jeopardised his business interests in China.

Chief Justice Murrell earlier this month found Oettinger guilty of attempting, by deception, to dishonestly obtain a financial advantage from an insurance firm over a one-year period in 2007 and 2008.

During the trial, the court heard an insurance company had agreed to pay for repairs to the water-damaged kitchen of Oettinger's Charnwood property.

Oettinger, who worked in companies that specialised in kitchen renovations at the time, quoted to fix the damage through the business of a carpenter friend, who later pulled out of the repair-work. Oettinger then registered a company in the man's name and completed the work himself, with the help of friends and family and using materials on hand.