Accountants are often the first advisers to see a client’s finances deteriorate. The harder judgement is recognising when a difficult commercial situation has become one in which decisions may have legal consequences for the directors themselves.

That judgement may become even more important. The government is reviewing responses to a consultation on reforms to the UK’s corporate civil enforcement regime, the first comprehensive review of the rules in four decades, with attention now turning to which proposals will ultimately be taken forward.

The proposals are potentially significant for directors. They include changes intended to make certain transactions easier to challenge, a new restrictions regime for less serious misconduct, changes to how and when directors can be disqualified, and wider powers to obtain information when investigating directors of live companies.