Led by Alison Burnside. Director, BA(Hons), Dip M, FCA, FABRP our business restructuring and insolvency services explore the best options for your business.
Alison is a Chartered Accountant and Licensed Insolvency Practitioner (UK). She is a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland and Fellow of the Association of Business Recovery Professionals (R3). She holds the CAI Diploma in Insolvency in Ireland.
Alison has the unique experience of advising clients in both the UK and Ireland. This experience includes advising clients - whether corporate and individuals, distressed investors and creditors. In addition to advising in complex financial restructuring across a wide range of business sectors and activities in both jurisdictions.
At McAleer Jackson we seek to help and advise businesses in the current economic environment with its’ challenges and opportunities.
Taking early professional advice allows for more options to be explored and more importantly corrective actions and strategies to be put in place to allow the business to survive and optimise its’ future prospects.
If your business is showing signs of distress, suffering a cash crisis or insolvency then an IBR can provide clarity as to the actual position and allow the short and medium term issues to be identified and addressed.
The review normally looks at the market, management in addition to financial considerations. The IBR allows for a recovery plan to be developed and then with stakeholder support to be implemented.
While every business needs to manage its working capital management, this is especially important when the business is in financial distress.
We can help businesses identify the causes of the cash shortages and develop strategies to improve and help cash flow.
Early professional advice allows the business to review the options available to it and help the business get back on track.
Core issues need to be addressed and actions put in place to help the business become sustainable and viable again.
These can be a useful tool especially with HMRC since VAT and PAYE debts are now treated as ‘secondary preferential creditors’ and paid in priority to floating charge and unsecured creditors in any insolvency procedure.
Time to pay plans allow liabilities to be paid without any reputational brand risk. Care must be taken not to pay unsecured creditors in preference to other unsecured creditors during the period plans are in place.
A Company Voluntary Arrangement is a legally binding agreement between the creditors of a company and the company which allows a proportion of the debts to be paid in full and find settlement over a period of time providing that 75% in value of the unsecured creditors who voted also supported the arrangement at the meeting of creditors.
This is a valuable rescue tool for a company that has a viable future but has significant legacy debt which it needs to deal with.
An Administration is an insolvency process which is predominantly designed to provide a breathing space from creditor actions for viable businesses. The Administrator can then either trade the business or realise assets in order to maximise the return to creditors and should provide a better return to creditors than they might otherwise receive in a liquidation scenario.
A Creditors Voluntary Liquidation is a formal insolvency procedure which brings an end to a company which is normally insolvent.
A company is regarded as insolvent when it is not able to pay its’ debts as and when they fall due or its’ liabilities are greater than its’ assets. The liquidator will realise the assets of the company and distribute after costs the proceeds to the creditors in order of priority.
A compulsory winding up takes place when either a creditor or the directors of the company use a court process to wind up a company. The Official Receiver is often appointed as the liquidator for such a company.
The directors should always ensure that they have taken professional advices especially when the company is served with a statutory demand for payment from a creditor.
Members Voluntary Liquidations is a solvent liquidation and can be used to distribute the assets via tax efficiency to the shareholders of a company when it has come to the end of its economic life, or when the shareholders wish to trade with separate aspirations for the future.
Bankruptcy is an insolvency process which allows individuals to deal with debts that they cannot pay when they become due or their liabilities are greater than their assets. A trustee is appointed to realise the equity in your share of assets, and which is then distributed among your creditors after the costs of the bankruptcy have been discharged.
To be adjudicated bankrupt either a creditor can petition for your bankruptcy or you can petition for your own bankruptcy if you owe more than £5000. Bankruptcy will mean that the individual will have certain inhibitions for 12 months after the granting of a Bankruptcy Order and that their name will be advertised as being a bankrupt.
An Individual Voluntary Arrangement is a legally binding agreement between an individuals’ creditors and the individual which allows a proportion of the debts to be paid in full and find settlement over time providing there is 75% in value of the unsecured creditors who voted also supported the arrangement at the creditors meeting. This procedure allows an individual to avoid the inhibitions of bankruptcy together with advertising.
There are a number of guides for creditors and stakeholders to lead you through the various procedures, these guides are available here:
http://www.creditorinsolvencyguide.co.uk/
Creditors Guide to fees:
https://www.r3.org.uk/technical-library/northern-ireland/technical-guidance/fees/
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