Your introductory guide to insolvency and what to do if you believe you are trading insolvent
Insolvency is the inability to pay bills as they become due. While the term ‘insolvent’ can apply to both companies and individuals, personal insolvency is more commonly referred to as ‘bankruptcy’ and is a vastly different process than company insolvency.
As a company director or owner, you have a legal obligation to run the business a certain way, including ensuring that creditors are paid in full and on time.
Your obligations as director/owner and the potential consequences
Knowingly trading insolvent is an offence and could cause you to become personally liable for the company’s debt. When in doubt, seek help early from financial and legal professionals. The worst thing you can do is to do nothing at all.
If you are the director/owner of an insolvent company, the potential consequences include:
- Loss of employment for yourself and the employees due to the company’s closure
- Struggling to secure employment in the future due to your record as the director of an insolvent company
- Loss of personal assets (including your house)
- Monetary fines or, in cases where director duty has been severely breached, criminal charges or jail time
- Personal insolvency/bankruptcy
Generally speaking, if a company is set up and has been operated correctly, you will not be personally liable for company debts. Exemptions to this are where you have knowingly traded insolvent, you have breached your duty as a director, you gave a personal guarantee in order to secure capital or you have engaged in illegal activity.
The warning signs – how do I know when my company is insolvent?
With the potential consequences at stake, it’s vitally important that as a company director/owner, you know the warning signs of insolvency and understand when it’s time to ask for help.
Insolvency, or at least the path towards insolvency, can include cash flow problems, being unable to pay creditor bills within the outlined payment terms, needing to refinance in order to pay bills or letters from solicitors or debt collectors demanding payment for outstanding invoices.
When you are insolvent
If your company is found to be insolvent, there are several potential outcomes:
- Voluntary Administration
- Liquidation
- Receivership
Voluntary administration
In the instance of voluntary administration, the directors of a company enlist the assistance of insolvency lawyers, rather than being forced into liquidation by an unhappy creditor.
Following an in-depth investigation into the company set-up, financials and operations, a voluntary administrator will recommend either going into liquidation (more on this to come) or coming to an agreement with creditors in which the payment term is extended so as to allow the company to trade out of its insolvency.
Liquidation
Liquidation can be either recommended by a voluntary administrator or forced upon a company by a liquidator, usually acting on behalf of the group of creditors as a whole.
A liquidator will collate your assets and liquidate them (that is, to sell the physical asset and turn the asset into cash). These funds will then be dispersed amongst known creditors, paying off as much of the total debt as possible.
At the conclusion of this process, the company will be deregistered and will cease to exist.
Receivership
Receivership is a situation where money is owed to a secured creditor (generally a bank), that creditor can elect a receiver to operate on their behalf. The receiver will either liquidate the company assets or take control of the company operations so as to trade the business in the hope of repaying debts owed.
A key difference between liquidation and receivership is that a liquidator acts on behalf of all creditors, whereas a receiver acts only on behalf of the secured creditor. A receiver will first ensure that money owed to the secured creditor is paid before paying out other creditors.
What now?
Whether you are a company director trying to avoid insolvency or have found your company to be insolvent, the worst thing you can do is to do nothing at all. Contact our insolvency lawyers immediately to discuss your options in a judgement-free consult with the experts.
The Rostron Carlyle Rojas team of Insolvency Lawyers are the experts on your side. Speak to them today and start the journey out of insolvency.
Recommended for you: Insolvency- The Ultimate Guide
