Company wound up - how's it work?

I tried that already. He didn't file any.

In practice the director/owner will setup a new company.

The director will appoint "friendly" liquidators who will sell the company assets to the director's new company, generally at a firesale price.

The liquidators will normally use this money and anything owing to the company in order to wind the company up. It's rare for there to be any money left over.

As a creditor, you will be informed by the liquidator of the circumstances and the right to vote to agree to the appointment of liquidator. You should be given a list of the other creditors owed money by this company. You should also be given a balance sheet of the state of the company. You can virtually guarantee that any money left over will be spent by the liquidators.

If you seriously want to put a spanner in the works, there are two things you can do. First is write to all the creditors that you would suggest an alternative liquidator would be more creditor friendly, where you ask to be given their proxy, rather than them allowing the director friendly liquidator to have their vote. Secondly, once you have their vote you can object to the sale of the company's assets and give them a higher valuation, especially if the director is already trading! Remember the same director still has fiducial responsibility to the company, and therefore it could be argued that any increase in value from trading in the new company, should be enjoyed by the old company. You can also make the director squirm during the creditors meeting where you're allowed to ask pertinent questions.

Most insolvency practitioners offer a free consultation service as there's money to be made from liquidations. I would suggest you choose a small, local practice, typically also a solicitor's practice. They are generally willing to attend a creditors meeting FOC on your behalf or give advice once there.

Good luck.

The trouble is they can be very out of date. All the director has to do is pay the fines and his responsibility to company accounts passes to the liquidator when they're appointed. It can be a very long time before the accounts are finally published.

looking at the assets listed they do not form a large sum, 36 S/H computers, though of large quantity, amount to very little. The same can be said for all other S/H assets and it sounds like he did not own the property. Money in the bank is the only unknown.

Did he say why the company had failed.

In theory, couldn't there be a criminal prosecution, as well as an administrative penalty, for deliberate late filing of accounts.

Nope, in fact he was surprised to see I had tracked him down.

He hasn't made the company insolvent, or appointed a liquidator.

In theory, couldn't there be a guaranteed way for an employee to get his wages rather than having to rely on the civil courts?