Author Archives: admin

Spring clean your finances

Posted on by
Reply

Christmas has been and gone for another year, the commonly known blue and financially draining month of January has passed and Spring is soon upon us. Time for not just the traditional House Spring Clean, but how about a Spring Clean of your Finances?


The run up to Christmas soon arrives and slowly, slowly do you creep into your overdraft and fall into the red? Christmas passes, and coming out of the red is the next task. Time now to get your finances back on track ready for the Spring and Summer months of holidays, house repairs and enjoying life!

Simple steps can be taken in a bid to organise your finances. Review your finances regularly, open your Bank Statements, Credit Card Statements and don’t be afraid to challenge any high bills and question your utility bills – you never know, a phone call to your utility provider could potentially save a few pounds and help you keep on top of putting them all important meter readings in. If you have any unopened post mounting, OPEN THEM. It’s time to remove your head from the sand and start getting your finances in order.

If you do have Credit Card bills, Loans or the odd Catalogue from Christmas outstanding, call the Finance Provider or if it is to the stage of a Debt Collection Agency – CALL THEM!! Don’t be afraid of facing up to it. More than ever companies that provide finance and Debt Collection Agencies are heavily cultured by the “Treating Customers Fairly Principles”, which is commonly known as TCF. There are six desired outcomes that the FSA are aiming to achieve by embedding them in businesses’. Please be clear, Debt Collection Agencies are not regulated by the FSA but are regulated by the CSA, they do however follow the principles as agents of their subscribers, subscribers being the original creditor (Finance Provider).

The objective of TCF is to create a fairer and more effective financial industry. One of the six outcomes that the FSA are trying to achieve and the most fitting to you, if you are dealing with financial pressures would be the following outcome –
“Where consumers receive advice, the advice is suitable and takes account of their circumstances”

This can provide the Consumer, Finance Provider and/or Debt Collection Agency with a mutual understanding to provide a solution that fits all parties, where the Finance Provider and Debt Collection Agency is receiving repayments against the bill or debt and the consumer has an affordable repayment that is realistic and manageable in order to provide a win, win solution for all parties.

Making repayments is all about being realistic to your financial capabilities, whilst meeting the needs of your creditor, but please be honest with them. Being honest, open and truthful and at all costs staying in regular contact with your Finance Provider, Creditor and/or Debt Collection Agency is a must. If you have a change in circumstances keep all parties informed. Don’t avoid the red letters!

Spring Cleaning your Finances, is all about taking your head out the sand, keeping all communication lines open and most importantly being honest with yourself. Open your eyes to the options out there to take the right steps to a bright Spring and a prosperous Summer.

For free confidential advice please do not hesitate to contact Wilson Field or call 0800 458 3320

Redundancy tit bits

Posted on by
Reply

Why should employees feel like they’re left in the dark when it comes to how their claims are processed and calculated in insolvency??

In many redundancy scenarios, employees can be left with unclear answers about how much they can expect to receive, who the payment will come from and the timing of any payments.

Whilst the government (in the form of the Redundancy Payments Service) issues guidance for employees and provides contact numbers for individual offices, those with experience of attempting to contact them will appreciate how difficult, time consuming and frustrating this can be!!

Payments are made up of arrears of wages, accrued holiday pay, notice pay and redundancy (subject to length of service).The Redundancy Payments Service will pay each element of claim upto a maximum of £430 per week.

At Wilson Field Limited we appreciate the devastating effect redundancy can have to individuals and families and therefore we prioritise employee claims to ensure they receive their entitlement as quickly as possible and also provide support and assistance to individuals.

To make the process run as smoothly as possible, here are a few guideline points;

Return your RP1 form to the Insolvency Practitioners office as soon as possible
Ensure your RP1 form is completed as fully as possible
Don’t be afraid to ask questions-call the Insolvency Practitioners office and ask for help
Understand your claim and its different elements
Never send your RP1 direct to the Redundancy Payments Service
Don’t forget to return all forms
Acknowledgement of the payment you will receive will be sent direct to employee’s from the Redundancy Payments Service
Notice pay is subject to deductions such as jobseeker’s allowance, irrelevant of whether you’ve claimed. Therefore ensure you sign on if entitled.
Check your payment once received; contact the Insolvency Practitioner if incorrect
You should check dividend prospects with the Insolvency Practitioner regarding any balance of your entitlement

If in doubt, please contact Wilson Field or contact us on 0800 458 3320 for FREE confidential advice.

Managing in tough times – risk assess your business

Posted on by
Reply

One of the characteristics of recession is that it shakes out poorly managed businesses. It’s the commercial equivalent of Survival of the fittest.  Regrettably it often takes many well managed companies too, which are simply victims of unforeseen events or those events which are outside of their control.

Life in industry is tough and is going to be tough for some time. We have all become familiar with Health & Safety requirements and procedures. Many of us have cursed them and the red tape associated with them but despite that have to admit that they have prevented accidents and saved lives.

In the past I have met many business owners who, even in difficult times, have been obsessed with matters such as tax efficiency when in fact as a matter of priority they should have been focussing on cash flow and survival.  Those business owners with foresight are undertaking “risk assessments” on all aspects of their companies – a sort of SWOT analysis to identify what might threaten their very existence and then taking steps to minimise risks.

As the manager of any size business, what can you do?

The starting point is having quality management information – an essential management tool. Scientia potentia est – “knowledge is power“. Trading blindly without such information is a high risk strategy.

Examples of some of the many risks which are quite easy to identify –

  • heavy reliance on one customer or a very small number of major customers
  • one owner or key staff member with no succession in place
  • dependence on one supplier
  • a single source of credit
  • exposure to currency or interest rate fluctuations

Any exceptional dependence results in vulnerability. There isn’t always a quick fix but planning to spread concentrations, succession planning and using multiple credit lines and hedging products can help.

It is always worth considering outsourcing – either outsourcing current operations or bringing in-house services which are currently outsourced. If your management information is such that it can separate various operations into cost centres this is a huge benefit. Some areas which are worthy of consideration may be:

  • Transport and haulage – this often evolves, perhaps starting with an individual vehicle and growing into a small fleet to deliver your products. If your vehicles are either standing idle for prolonged periods or driving around empty it may be worth looking at outsourcing. Another alternative may be to hive the haulage into a separate business and seek additional customers to ensure the fleet is profitable.
  • Credit control – many businesses are either not very efficient at collecting money or have in-house credit controllers. If you happen to be looking for an additional line of credit it may be worth considering factoring. A good factoring company will have an efficient credit control function. The saving in paying a credit controller will off-set the cost of the factoring facility.
  • Marketing  – important to any business, but  smaller and medium sized companies who cannot justify the costs often ignore it completely  - and wait for the phone to ring. If your business is not actively marketing rest assured that your competitors will be.
  • Project Management – often a false economy to undertake in-house. What is frequently overlooked is the lost production of the member of staff allocated to the temporary role and the fact that professional project managers are generally more effective. If lost production isn’t an issue …do you really need that member of staff?

Outsourcing isn’t always the right option – each business is different. There may be functions which you currently outsource where you could add value by bringing in-house. If, for example, you find your business has surplus clerical staffing capacity, rather than consider redundancies it may be financially feasible to bring certain operations in-house, eg   Payroll processing. Inexpensive, off-the-shelf software is available which once set up makes processing payroll simple.

So, if you are running a business and you want to survive, the worst thing you can do is ….absolutely nothing. Inaction, inertia and complacency can result in disaster, whereas a good level of awareness and forward planning gives your company the best chance of seeing 2012 through.

For free confidential advice, please call Wilson Field on 0800 458 3320

 

Administration – a powerful & positive tool

Posted on by
Reply

At a time when the economy is shrinking and unemployment is rising, many of the tools of trade of the insolvency profession exists to minimise the number of failed businesses which simply “disappear” and on the back of that to preserve jobs.

Unless you have chosen an insolvency-related career or you have been unfortunate enough to have experienced severe financial problems in the past, there is a good chance that you will have limited knowledge of what services are available from an insolvency practitioner.

Many people see headlines about large employers “going into Administration” and immediately assume the worst – it all sounds pretty grim and terminal. And some of it is – particularly if business owners fail to take early advice when they face financial difficulty. But the insolvency industry does much more than “bust” companies.

Administration is a powerful tool. It is a temporary arrangement whereby insolvency practitioners are appointed by the court to take control of the company. During their period of office they look into the viability of the business to see if part or all of it can be salvaged. And whilst the company is in Administration it is in a protective bubble – safe from potential actions taken by creditors, such as bailiffs seizing essential equipment, until a solution can be found.

Recently the retail group, Peacocks, went into administration. Part of that group is the women’s clothing retailer Bonmarché and this has been sold for an undisclosed sum. Although there will be some job losses, 2400 jobs will be preserved. Historically, the alterative would have been that the company would have simply ceased to exist and all the staff would have been unemployed.

The outcome of administration varies tremendously. In theory, the administrators could manage the business until it has recovered and then hand it back to the directors. In reality there are usually underlying problems which frequently result in the healthy parts of the business being sold on. Once no further improvements or sales can be brought about the administrators role is completed and they usually then take on the role of liquidators.

Running a business is not easy. If you are running a business, whatever the size, and are worried about any issues, the worst thing you can do is nothing. Discuss the problems without delay with a licensed insolvency practitioner. They have a number of tools at their disposal including access to private investors and specialist lenders.

For free confidential advice, please contact Wilson Field.

A good time to start a business?

Posted on by
Reply

Self-employment can be hugely rewarding, not just in financial terms but the having independence and the satisfaction of being your own boss. With as many as 1 in 3 new businesses failing within the first three years it is certainly not for the feint-hearted. But that also means that 2 out of 3 survive.

Is 2012 a good time to start your business? The reality is that there are businesses out there now which are not only surviving but thriving. It is also true that many businesses fail when the economy is booming. But there is no doubt that starting a business in such economic conditions is much tougher.

Nobody goes into business expecting it to fail but if you are looking to start a business and want to survive it’s worth knowing common factors which often occur in failed businesses.

• Lack of professional advice. You need an accountant and a solicitor before you start trading to advise you on issues such as VAT and your legal responsibilities. You also need to decide whether to be a sole trader or form a partnership or to trade your business as a limited company. There are many reasons to incorporate, not least of which is to protect personal assets, such as your home, should things go wrong.

• Poor cash flow. Each business which ceases to trade will have its own reasons, but whatever the underlying cause, the crunch comes when a business grinds to a halt because of a lack of cash. You need sufficient cash to continue trading until the business becomes established. Don’t assume that it will be easy to raise finance – it would be almost impossible for a new business in the current climate.

• Concentrations. Being heavily dependent on one or a small number of customers, suppliers, products, staff, etc., makes your business vulnerable.

• Lack of planning and monitoring. Well managed businesses invariably plan well and are constantly monitoring their results. It enables a business owner to identify and address problems at an early stage and even foresee some and take evasive action.

If, despite your best efforts your business runs into financial difficulty don’t delay taking specialist advice. The sooner you ask for help the better chance of survival your business will have. And a good sense of humour and a “can-do” attitude will help you survive the ups and downs.  For free advice please contact Wilson Field.

Operation Christmas Child

Posted on by
Reply

I love Christmas. The excitement, seeing friends and family, eating lovely food, listening to Christmas songs and of course, giving presents!

Operation Christmas Child is an annual project carried out by Samaritan’s Purse. Each year in the run up to Christmas, Samaritan’s Purse collects presents to send to children who wouldn’t ordinarily receive a gift.

The idea is simple: cover a shoe box in brightly coloured paper and fill it with small presents. The shoeboxes are then shipped to children all over the world to open on Christmas Day!

For the past few years I’ve made one shoebox for a girl and one shoebox for a boy. It’s a wonderful feeling to know that Father Christmas will have 2 extra presents to give!

This year, I decided to inspire my colleagues at Wilson Field to join in! For the past few weeks we have been buying, cutting, sticking, papering and creating. The result was a spectacular tower of shiny, sparkly, multi-coloured shoeboxes of all different shapes and sizes!

Thanks to the time and effort taken by everyone who joined in, we have managed to collect a fabulous 15 boxes and the lives of 15 children will be brighter this Christmas!

I’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who took part!

Claire Taylor

 

 

Latest insolvency figures November 2011

Posted on by
Reply

Figures showing the number of administrations within various industries are more telling than those showing the overall number of corporate liquidations, says a leading Sheffield insolvency expert.

Latest statistics from the Government Insolvency Service show a 6.5 per cent increase in total company liquidations in England and Wales in 2011 compared to 2010.

However, industry specific figures showing the rate of companies going into administration vary dramatically.

A 38 per cent increase in administrations within the construction industry this year demonstrates how the building sector is still taking a hit. A 34 per cent decrease in administrations in the transport, storage and communication industry may seem positive news but the figures suggest a different story.

Administration figures usually closely mirror liquidation figures as one often leads to the other.  While the overall figures show that the total of corporate liquidations has increased by 6.5 per cent, the breakdown of administrations within the different industries vary much more dramatically and illustrate the effect the recession has had on various trades.

“When the figures from the most recent quarter of 2011 are compared with the same quarter in 2010, almost all industries have seen a rise in the number of companies going into administration. The manufacturing industry has seen an increase of 7 per cent, construction has shot up by 38 per cent, and administrations within the wholesale and retail trade are up 20 per cent, while hotel and restaurant administrations have increased by 26 per cent.

A figure that stands out is the 34 per cent decrease of companies going into administration in the transport, storage and communication industry. Many might assume that this is a sign of improving business within the industry but I’d view this figure with caution. I would say that it illustrates the extreme challenges this industry has faced over the last two or three years. It demonstrates that the haulage and transport companies were the first to be hit hard by the economic downturn and many companies fell early on, leaving fewer companies to go into administration as time progressed.”

A lack of consumer confidence is probably to blame for the continuing increase in corporate liquidations and the Government needs to focus on restoring that confidence.

The overall increase in corporate insolvencies and increase of administrations within the retail and hospitality industries is unsurprising. A focus needs to be placed on improving consumer confidence which in turn should lead to growth for businesses.

It is likely the retail and leisure industries will take another hit in the first quarter of 2012 as those industries face a dip once the festive season has passed.

The companies that survive will be the proactive thinkers and those who act in advance.

Putting off seeking professional advice is key to not falling at the first hurdle. Many people find taking that first step a challenging and difficult step, but it is crucial if you are to survive.

Despite challenging economic times for many businesses, Wilson Field has recently expanded its own portfolio to open an office in the West Midlands, complementing its existing bases in Sheffield, Manchester and Leeds.

Having built a reputation for professional and personal service as well as exceptional industry knowledge, we are confident that Wilson Field Ltd can continue to help businesses both locally and across the UK with their business recovery, insolvency and debt solution needs.

To speak to an expert from Wilson Field’s free advice line call 0800 458 3320 or visit our website at www.wilsonfield.co.uk.

 

Telesales Position Available

Posted on by
Reply

Due to the continuing expansion of this busy insolvency practice a vacancy has arisen for the above position.

The position involves promoting the company, its services and making appointments for our consultants.

Ideally applicants should be confident, possess excellent communication skills and have a good telephone manner. Previous experience would be an advantage, however training is available for the right candidate.

Please apply in writing enclosing a CV to Julie Fantom, Wilson Field Ltd, The Manor House, 260 Ecclesall Road South, Sheffield S11 9PS or by email j.fantom@wilsonfield.co.uk. (0114 2356780).

For more information on Wilson Field please visit our website www.wilsonfield.co.uk

Insolvency and Rescue Awards 2011 Update

Posted on by
Reply

Wilson Field have recently entered for ‘Corporate Recovery Firm of the Year’ through the Insolvency and Rescue Awards 2011.  This award is open to UK Corporate Insolvency Firms with four to twenty appointment taking Insolvency Practitioners and we are delighted to find out that we have been shortlisted for this award.

The companies shortlisted in this category are yet to be revealed but we’re thoroughly excited to be a part of this.  Click here for more information and update of the event.