Frequently Asked Questions

What is Insolvency?

There are three tests you can run to see if your company is solvent or insolvent.

  1. Cash Flow Test – A company should be able to pay it’s debt as they fall due. If this is not possible your company may be insolvent.

  2. Balance Sheet Test – If your companies liabilities (Creditors, Loans, Debts) exceed your company assets this means your company is likely to be insolvent.

  3. Legal actions against your company – A major warning sign that your company is insolvent is receiving any letters threatening with legal actions against your company, from creditors. Such legal documents may be: Winding Up Petitions an CCJ – County Court Judgement.

A company can be easily placed into liquidation. The first step is to have a discussion with a Licensed Insolvency Practitioner and determine a course of action. If Liquidation is the best route, the process can be started immediately. The steps for placing a company in liquidation are the following: 

  1. Prepare the statement of affairs (SOA) – a document presenting the clear situation of your company, the level of debt, all the creditors, the assets level of the company and the history of your company. 

  2. Board meeting – Directors of the Company meet and decide to place the company in liquidation

  3. Members Meeting – The Shareholders also decide that the company should be placed into liquidation

  4. Creditors meeting – the creditors meet and agree that the company should be placed in liquidation

For more details regarding company liquidation click here.

Directors’ duties cease at the date of liquidation, although the director’s full ongoing co-operation and assistance is required by the Liquidator. The company’s directors must:

• Give the Liquidator information about the company’s affairs
• Provide details of its assets and liabilities
• Preserve and hand over the company’s assets to the Liquidator; and
• Preserve and hand over the company’s books, records, bank statements, insurance policies and other papers relating to its assets and liabilities.

Having a limited liability company means that the directors have little risk (or limited liability) if the company fails, as long as they have acted properly and acted in time.

There are few instances where the Directors are liable such as wrongful trading.

Each insolvency case is different and the only way to know for sure is to speak directly with a Licensed Insolvency Practitioner.

Get in touch with one of our team members now.

A director may personally purchase company assets from the company or the Liquidator, provided an independent valuation has been obtained to justify the sum paid.

No. Any individual who has been a director of a company in the 12 months prior to liquidation is prohibited for five years from starting up a company using the same or a similar name. The exceptions are;

• With the leave of the Court.
• By informing all creditors in writing and in an advertisement in the Edinburgh Gazette
• Where you have previously registered a company with a similar name, which has been in existence for more than 12 months prior to liquidation.

This fact sheet sets out some of the more common questions raised by Directors in such circumstances. It is not intended to be exhaustive or comprehensive guide to Director’s responsibilities under the Companies Acts, Insolvency legislation or the law relating to it.

What happens to Directors?

In a creditors voluntary liquidation the cost to place the company into liquidation may be paid from assets if sufficient.

Liquidators fees post appointment can only be drawn from asset recoveries.

The benefit of a limited company provides the director with protection against company debts.

However please contact one of our insolvency practitioners if you have signed a Personal Guarantee over a debt of the company.

Yes, it is possible for a director to set up a new company although there may be some restrictions put in place by HM Revenue & Customs

The liquidator, administrative receiver, administrator or Official Receiver has a duty to send the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, a report on the conduct of all directors who were in office in the last 3 years of the company’s trading. The Secretary of State has to decide whether it is in the public interest to seek a disqualification order against a director.

Examples of the most commonly reported conduct are:

  • Continuing the company’s trading when the company was insolvent;

  • Failing to keep proper accounting records;

  • Failing to prepare and file accounts or make returns to Companies House; and

  • Failing to send in returns or pay to the Crown any tax that is due.

Your house may be at risk if you have guaranteed company debts. If this is the case taking early advice from our insolvency practitioners will optimise the options available to you.

Directors duties cease at the date of liquidation although their co-operation is required by the liquidator.

Liquidation - the most common type of insolvency procedure

There are three tests you can run to see if your company is solvent or insolvent.

  1. Cash Flow Test – A company should be able to pay it’s debt as they fall due. If this is not possible your company may be insolvent.

  2. Balance Sheet Test – If your companies liabilities (Creditors, Loans, Debts) exceed your company assets this means your company is likely to be insolvent.

  3. Legal actions against your company – A major warning sign that your company is insolvent is receiving any letters threatening with legal actions against your company, from creditors. Such legal documents may be: Winding Up Petitions an CCJ – County Court Judgement.

A company can be easily placed into liquidation. The first step is to have a discussion with a Licensed Insolvency Practitioner and determine a course of action. If Liquidation is the best route, the process can be started immediately. The steps for placing a company in liquidation are the following: 

  1. Prepare the statement of affairs (SOA) – a document presenting the clear situation of your company, the level of debt, all the creditors, the assets level of the company and the history of your company. 

  2. Board meeting – Directors of the Company meet and decide to place the company in liquidation

  3. Members Meeting – The Shareholders also decide that the company should be placed into liquidation

  4. Creditors meeting – the creditors meet and agree that the company should be placed in liquidation

For more details regarding company liquidation click here.

Directors’ duties cease at the date of liquidation, although the director’s full ongoing co-operation and assistance is required by the Liquidator. The company’s directors must:

• Give the Liquidator information about the company’s affairs
• Provide details of its assets and liabilities
• Preserve and hand over the company’s assets to the Liquidator; and
• Preserve and hand over the company’s books, records, bank statements, insurance policies and other papers relating to its assets and liabilities.

Having a limited liability company means that the directors have little risk (or limited liability) if the company fails, as long as they have acted properly and acted in time.

There are few instances where the Directors are liable such as wrongful trading.

Each insolvency case is different and the only way to know for sure is to speak directly with a Licensed Insolvency Practitioner.

Get in touch with one of our team members now.

A director may personally purchase company assets from the company or the Liquidator, provided an independent valuation has been obtained to justify the sum paid.

No. Any individual who has been a director of a company in the 12 months prior to liquidation is prohibited for five years from starting up a company using the same or a similar name. The exceptions are;

• With the leave of the Court.
• By informing all creditors in writing and in an advertisement in the Edinburgh Gazette
• Where you have previously registered a company with a similar name, which has been in existence for more than 12 months prior to liquidation.

This fact sheet sets out some of the more common questions raised by Directors in such circumstances. It is not intended to be exhaustive or comprehensive guide to Director’s responsibilities under the Companies Acts, Insolvency legislation or the law relating to it.

Administrations - saving the business

In a creditors voluntary liquidation the cost to place the company into liquidation may be paid from assets if sufficient.

Liquidators fees post appointment can only be drawn from asset recoveries.

The benefit of a limited company provides the director with protection against company debts.

However please contact one of our insolvency practitioners if you have signed a Personal Guarantee over a debt of the company.

Yes, it is possible for a director to set up a new company although there may be some restrictions put in place by HM Revenue & Customs

The liquidator, administrative receiver, administrator or Official Receiver has a duty to send the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, a report on the conduct of all directors who were in office in the last 3 years of the company’s trading. The Secretary of State has to decide whether it is in the public interest to seek a disqualification order against a director.

Examples of the most commonly reported conduct are:

  • Continuing the company’s trading when the company was insolvent;

  • Failing to keep proper accounting records;

  • Failing to prepare and file accounts or make returns to Companies House; and

  • Failing to send in returns or pay to the Crown any tax that is due.

Your house may be at risk if you have guaranteed company debts. If this is the case taking early advice from our insolvency practitioners will optimise the options available to you.

Directors duties cease at the date of liquidation although their co-operation is required by the liquidator.

What are the main Insolvency Procedures?

You might have heard terms like liquidation, company administration, insolvency practitioner, and many more. But what do they mean and what might be the best insolvency procedure for your company?

LIQUIDATION (CVL)

Creditors Voluntary Liquidation is a legal process in which an insolvent company is wound up. The appointed Liquidator will try to realise assets (by recovering the assets from 3rd parties, selling the Company’s assets for the best price, etc) to repay the Company’s debts. During the Liquidation process, the Company is under the Liquidator’s control and it will be dissolved by the end of the liquidation process

ADMINISTRATION
An Administration is a formal insolvency procedure in which an Insolvency Practitioner is appointed to act as an Administrator with the goal of rescuing the business and obtain the best result for the Company’s creditors
CVA​

When a struggling business appears to be viable with the prospect of becoming profitable again, and the directors are willing to continue, a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) may be an ideal way to protect against legal actions.

MVL

MVL – Members Voluntary Liquidation (MVL) is a process of winding up a solvent company in a cost-effective way. This process is more advantageous than striking-off the Company on Companies House and taking out the assets as dividends since it is more tax-efficient. Upon making sure all company debts (if any) have been settled, the Liquidator will make a distribution to the Members of the Company

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