Insolvency investigations & recoveries
Preserving records, assessing transactions, reporting conduct and evaluating estate claims.
Investigation can establish what happened to a company’s assets, explain its failure and identify potential claims. A suspected claim is not cash in the estate. The office-holder must consider legal ingredients, evidence, cost, time and the realistic prospect of recovery.
Preserve the evidence
Identify where the accounting records, bank statements, emails and company systems are held. Record what has been obtained and what is still missing. Secure access and protect the integrity of material likely to be needed in a claim or public investigation.
Reconcile the financial position and trace material movements before drawing conclusions. Ledger descriptions, invoices and management explanations should be tested against supporting records where the issue matters.
Assess each possible claim
Transactions involving directors, connected parties, asset disposals or payments to selected creditors can warrant examination. The relevant statutory provision, period, insolvency condition and available defences must be identified for the jurisdiction.
A payment to a director is not automatically recoverable, and a disputed loan account is not automatically an admitted asset. Identify ownership, the parties, the asserted entitlement and the evidence for and against recovery.
- Separate fact, representation, inference and unresolved question.
- Assess the proposed defendant’s ability to pay and any security or limitation issue.
- Record costs, funding, approvals and the effect on creditor returns.
Technical detail
The applicable SIP 2 and local legislation govern the work in context. England and Wales statutory provisions must not be copied into a Scottish or Northern Ireland claim without checking the corresponding law.
Connect the findings to the right duties
Information may affect the director conduct report, AML assessment, sanctions controls or creditor reporting. Consider those duties alongside any proposed civil action. A recovery settlement does not necessarily remove a separate reporting obligation.
Keep forecasts and realised recoveries distinct in estate accounts and communications. Creditors should be able to understand what remains contingent, which costs have been incurred and why a claim is pursued or not pursued.
Northern Ireland: source route
Use the Insolvency (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 and local Rules for company insolvency claims, alongside the applicable professional standards. The corresponding provisions, periods and court procedure require local checks. A reference to section 214 or another Great Britain provision does not by itself establish the Northern Ireland cause of action.
Sources & review
Read the source in its own context. Legislation may contain commencement provisions and changes not yet applied to the displayed text. Professional guidance is identified separately from law.
Initial source-based editorial review: 26 Oct 2026. Next scheduled review: 26 Nov 2026. Substantive changes are reviewed before publication.
Added in the practice and regulation expansion requested on 26 October 2026. Primary-source editorial check; this is not independent professional approval. Future measures are distinguished from provisions in force.
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