Accountants

Most of the cases we deal with are referred to us by an accountant. This may be by an accountant who has spotted:

• an insolvent balance sheet.
• a client under tax pressure to pay VAT, PAYE or Corporation Tax.
• They are asked by a client to recommend someone.

For the accountant the reassurance is dealing with us is we are Licensed Insolvency Practitioners (so can do any insolvency process needed), we are experienced doing this role for a long time and we understand that your continuing relationship with your client is important.  You can also meet us in person if you want to or by Teams.

Issues for your client

If your client company goes into liquidation, we haveto review the financial records and also make a confidential report to the Insolvency Service on the director’s conduct. This can sometimes put the accountant in a difficult position for ‘dropping the director in it’. The most common issue is we find there is an overdrawn loan account or dividends have been taken recently but there was not enough profit to take them. We then ask the directors for this money back. Often, we will reach a sensible compromise particularly if the directors do not have the means to pay. You or the directors can ask us about overdrawn loan accounts up front if you want to know the likely outcome.

How we help

We try and help businesses in trouble and help the directors or owners of that business. It is important we get a whole picture of the finances to understand what the possible options are.

Sometimes this may mean we can help the client with dealing with one pressing creditor and agree a time to pay arrangement or a payment plan acting as a bridge between the business and the supplier (who maybe HM Revenue and Customs). In other cases, there is just a ‘wall of debt’ and the right answer is to close and liquidate.

If you have referred a case to us and it becomes a formal insolvency, we will always refer any tax work or other work back to you where possible.  For example, the tax work may mean preparing final accounts to make a terminal loss relief claim which can be carried back against any tax paid in the last three years. It may also mean processing the final payroll or getting VAT returns up to date. We will pay you for this work from the company assets and funds.

What we typically ask a client

We help business owners decide on what to do by asking them questions. For example, typical questions may include:

• Do you want to carry on the business or just close?
• Do you want to downsize the business and buy back the assets?
• Do you think your business is saleable?
• Have you had an CCJ’s or a winding up petition?
• Do you have a large redundancy liability that makes closing down difficult?

We will then help work out what is the likely financial impact based on the above and the options.

Ask me any questions

As an accountant you may have questions your client just does not know the answer to – please email me david@kirks.co.uk. You can ask my anything and I will help free of charge. We will only need to charge a fee if it becomes a formal insolvency appointment.