11-year ban for Manchester accountant

MANCHESTER accountant Bernard Haskell has been given an 11-year director ban after falling behind with tax and failing to keep proper books.

Mr Haskell, 63, ran Stretford-based accountancy firms Haskell Woolfe Accountants and Haskell Woolfe Ltd which both went bust in 2012 with debts of around £750,000, including more than £260,000 in unpaid VAT.

Details filed at Companies House show he is still the director of a Manchester due diligence firm called Greenall Chase and one called PW International. According to LinkedIn he is chairman of the Polo House restaurant in Worsley. He was a member of the Association of Certified Public Accountants until last August.

The Insolvency Service said its investigation found Mr Haskell did not hand over information to administrators, and when forced to by a court order the documents were minimal.

The lack of information, said the Insolvency Service, made it impossible to verify the company’s financial dealings, in particular the value of its book debts, the extent of its liabilities and the purpose of payments made from the company’s bank account. Haskell Wolfe Accountants owed £173,756 in VAT while Haskell Wolfe had debts to HM Revenue & Customs of £91,754.

Robert Clarke, group leader of Insolvent Investigations North at the Insolvency Service, said: “Directors have a clear, statutory duty to ensure that their companies maintain proper accounting records, and, following insolvency, deliver them to the office-holder in the interests of fairness and transparency. Companies have limited liability, which is a privilege, not a right. If directors operate outside the legal rules, the privilege will be withdrawn, as Mr Haskell has found out.”