Published: 30/10/2024 By Andrew Bailey
I was recently asked about what triggers people to get advice from an Insolvency Practitioner if their business gets into financial difficulties?I was going to waffle on about the usual stuff like receiving County Court Judgments or Statutory Demands but I had a think about some of my recent cases and these are the sort of things that business owners touched on in our initial calls and why they came to speak to me.
1. Blamed their accountant for poor advice and ending up in a mess. Obviously there are two sides to every story;
2. Also blamed the accountant for absence of useful current accurate financial data. We did not get into whether they had actually paid to receive current accurate financial data;
3. They trust their accountant who recommended that they take advice;
4. They were looking for a sale of their business but due diligence by the proposed purchaser suggested they may be insolvent;
5. Dispute with business partner;
6. Deteriorating relationship with asset based lender;
7. Couldn’t sleep;
8. Mental health issues as a consequence of the stress;
9. Started getting bombarded with unsolicited letters from Insolvency Practitioners and advisers. This normally happens when open source data is used to identify businesses in financial distress. When you start getting these letters it is not a good sign;
10. Getting letters from debt collection agency about outstanding Bounce Back Loans;
11. Received letters from HMRC Debt Management Team or HMRC Enforcement & Insolvency Team;
12. Received a Winding Up petition from HMRC or another creditor;
13. Application to strike off company has been objected to;
The list could go on but there are a vast amount of reasons that business owners may take advice. If I had to choose the most common that comes up on most initial conversations it would include the mental health issues and repercussions of having to try to cope with a business that is struggling. It is not a nice position to be in.
We always offer a free initial consultation, this can allow worried directors to get everything off their chest and seek some sound unbiased advice. Not all out advice will be for an insolvency procedure and we often find directors saying they wish they had come to us sooner.
Give us a call on 020 8661 7878 or email us at insolvency@turpinba.co.uk meetings are confidential and can be at a time convenient to you.