Cpcmcredit Blog

Although not a significant Administration, this is certainly a high profile one and has naturally attracted a lot of publicity

The fate of the unsecured creditors always makes good copy and who cannot have sympathy for them, but there is one caveat which I will come to

Perhaps more interesting is the fact that the business was run as a partnership and not a limited company for a number of years. This did of course eliminate the requirement for filing accounts but it is also quite an unusual arrangement for obvious reasons of risk. The Daily Mail piece does allude to questions that could be asked but would probably never be answered.

The collapse is embarrassing and “deeply upsetting” for the high profile answers but a retort would be that it’s not so upsetting that they intend to do anything about it. It is not as if they are short of personal assets. They do not have to of course and i’m sure many in certain professions will be baffled that anyone should act honourably but some people actually do. I have heard of a business where the owner has taken out a personal loan to ensure that his staff received their final wages before liquidation. The insolvency practitioners were confused but that says more about them than the business owner, for whom (although I do not know him), I have a lot of respect.

But should the unsecured creditors take some responsibility? I have not seen agency credit ratings for Party Pieces but as poor as many credit agencies are, the sole final year end accounts filed last September show an unequivocally disastrous financial position. Insolvent to a sum of £1.3m.
Stock that had doubled to £500k and debtors of just £170k. You can work out any ratio you wish to apply and they all look terrible

Covid was blamed but substantial CBILs were taken and I suspect that similar companies adjusted and rode out the storm. In fact a very good client of mine sourcing promotional material did just that