Papers & Commentary

Is it costly to liquidate my company?

Not really, the costs can be negligible. Costs are usually taken out of the assets of the company so that a director is not required to make any payment at all.  The costs of placing the company into liquidation and also for carrying out the liquidation work, must be approved by the creditors in a general meeting.   An Insolvency Practitioner must now present cre...

Why am I required to repay a dividend?

Directors, and sometimes their accountants, often forget that a company must have sufficient profit and loss account reserves before it may a dividend. If it does not do so then the dividend is regarded as unauthorised. Usually this is only picked up when a company goes into liquidation.  The liquidator will then ask the shareholder/director to repay the dividend to the...

What happens to my director’s loan account on liquidation?

This is a regular pitfall for directors. The simple answer is that the liquidator or administrator will be looking to a director to repay the whole amount together with interest. However, be careful, it may be that the loan account balance in the accounts or books and records is incorrect. There are usually a variety for reasons for this. Salaries and dividends may have been...

Directors Responsibilities

Gore and Company publish an irregular series of Update papers covering issues and developments in Accounts Troubleshooting and Corporate Recovery.   The March 2009 issue of Gore and Company's Update Series can be downloaded by clicking on the thumbnail below: GAC Update Series March 2009 Thumbnail: GACUS March 2009 ...

Sting in the tail of a helping hand?

Many companies have relied on the "goodwill" of HM Revenue and Customs who have agreed to defer tax bills over some quite long periods to enable the company to trade through what will hopefully be short term difficulties. In most cases a condition of this type of agreement is that the company can meet its ongoing tax bills as they fall due. In other words why would...

Is it really possible to wipe the slate clean? Or, what is a CVA?

One way in which this might be possible include what is called a corporate voluntary arrangement (CVA).   Under the CVA route, directors make a proposal to the company’s creditors for the company to repay them a proportion of what they are owed over some period of time which could be a number of years. This amount is called a dividend and is sometimes significantly l...

Disqualification of Directors

A liquidator or an administrator has a duty to file a return with the Insolvency Service for each person that has acted as a director of a company in the three years before the company was placed into liquidation/administration.  The Insolvency Service will then decide whether there is sufficient evidence of wrongdoing or reckless behaviour to warrant a disqualification. E...

Corporate Turnaround and Insolvency

Gore and Company has released a pair of new brochures for its business recovery and insolvency services offering. Two variations on a common theme are offered for: Directors facing a downturn in their businesses Professional Firms whose clients may require business recovery, turnaround or insolvency assistance Click on the thumbnail images below to dow...

Business Recovery with Regional Development Agencies

In the present economic climate, Gore and Company is working to raise the profile of Business Recovery and Turnaround work with staff in the UK's regional development agencies.   Gore and Company, whose Senior Partner, Tom Girn, is a member of R3: The Association of Business Recovery Professionals, is keen to work with development agencies and their client comp...

Reversionary Interests

A reversionary interest in a property is simply the freehold interest that remains once long leases have been granted to third party purchasers. Their valuation can be troublesome but it appears that some form of yield based approach has been used on many freehold reversions. The yield clearly arises from the ground rents being charged to leaseholders with the lease agr...

Amounts owed by contributories (shareholders)

Shareholders voting for a liquidation of a company should be aware that limited liability will not absolve them from the requirement to pay up the amount that is due on their shares. A liquidator has the right to seek payment on unpaid share capital and may settle, what is known as a list of contributories.  ...