The High Court issued a disqualification order lasting eleven years to the sole director of Magnetic Push Ltd. The company was purportedly operating as a payroll services company, and entered voluntary liquidation within a year of being formed. However, the liquidator found the director completely unco-operative when requesting the company’s statutory records. This was reported to the Insolvency Service, which investigated and found that the company was acting as an umbrella company in part of a tax avoidance scheme.

This is obviously an extreme case, but there are wider implications for company owners. It should serve as a reminder that companies are subject to strict conditions when it comes to the records that must be kept, both in respect of the company itself and its financial and accounting information. Failure to keep accounting records can lead to a £3,000 fine and/or disqualification from acting as a director. In short, good record keeping should be a priority for any company director. The information provided here is a good reference point for what you need to be keeping.