Moore Stephens: directors acting illegally “are more likely than ever to get caught”
The number of company directors disqualified for conducting unlawful transactions in failing businesses increased sharply over the last year, according to a new report out today from Moore Stephens, the accountancy firm.
Moore Stephens recorded a 12 per cent jump in disqualifications for so-called uncommercial transactions, such as selling assets cheaply or paying off loans improperly at the expense of creditors. The accountancy firm reported that there were 162 disqualifications for such transactions in the last 12 months, compared to 145 the year before and 107 the year before that.
Moore Stephens attributed the uptick to an “increasingly rigorous” approach by the Insolvency Service in pursuing cases.
Mike Finch, a partner at Moore Stephens said: “Directors engaging in this type of behaviour are more likely than ever to get caught.”