Accounting error helped bring down coatings firm

A serious accounting error was part of a cocktail of woes that led to the downfall of a Leicestershire coatings company, TheBusinessDesk.com can reveal.

Charnwood Paint Specialists called in Conrad Beighton and David Griffiths of Leonard Curtis as joint administrators in August after a troubled period of trading.

A mixture of inflationary pressures and the overhang of the Covid-19 shutdowns was already hampering growth at the company, but these problems were compounded when its in-house accountant failed to pay InPlace Personnel Services, a recruiter from Mansfield, on time. This led to the recruitment firm issuing a winding up order against Charnwood Paint Specialists, which employed 20 people.

The firm has now been sold in a £65,000 pre-pack deal by Arron Squires-Nugent – a director of Charnwood Paint Specialists – through a vehicle called Charnwood Coatings UK.

Documents seen by TheBusinessDesk.com show that Charnwood Paint Specialists owed over £581,000 to unsecured creditors when administrators from Leonard Curtis were appointed as administrators. They are unlikely to see any of the cash owed to them.