Insolvency service moves to identify businesses in financial difficulty
An interesting development from the Insolvency Service.
Its new five-year strategy puts much greater emphasis on identifying businesses in financial difficulty earlier, improving the use of data and joining up intelligence from organisations including Companies House, HMRC and law enforcement.
The strategy also highlights earlier identification of misconduct and abusive phoenix companies, where businesses are closed leaving debts behind and activity continues through another company.
What stands out is the broader direction of travel.
Rather than looking at Companies House filings, regulatory information, directors and other warning signs separately, there is increasing recognition that the real value comes from linking information together and identifying patterns earlier.
That feels like an important development for anyone involved in credit, compliance, financial services or corporate risk.
It is also very much aligned with some of the thinking behind the work we are doing at Watchdog Services, although I’ll say more about that when our next product is launched.
Source: Insolvency Service, “Earlier action, faster recovery, tougher on fraud”.