The lowest insolvency figures recorded in England and Wales since the financial crisis began have been received with a mixed response from the accounting industry, as some warn that the rosy picture is hiding an ugly truth.

Figures released by the Insolvency Service for the third quarter of 2012 showed that 3,971 companies filed for bankruptcy in the three months from July to September - a fall of 2.8% on the previous quarter and the lowest since Q2 of 2008.

Partner in business recovery services at PwC Mike Jervis welcomed the results, seeing it as a sign of 'recovery out of recession', Jarvis said: 'We expect these lower levels of insolvencies to continue into the new year.'

Warning of the threat of a triple dip recession being 'just round the corner' however, Chris Ratten, head of recovery at RSM Tenon disagreed, he said: 'On the face of it, the decline in corporate insolvencies in this quarter sounds like great news but businesses are still facing on-going problems which are being masked by the current low interest rates.'

Filippa Connor, restructuring and recovery partner at Reeves, considers some businesses were being propped up that were harming the economy. Connor said: 'Once interest rates start to rise, as they must in the next couple of years, there will be a flood of insolvencies. Perhaps counter-intuitively, this will be a good sign for the economy. It will present a chance to tidy up old failures, kill the zombie companies and enable a more realistic view of risk in business lending to resume.'

The number of individuals becoming insolvent was also down - 7.2% on the same quarter last year, to 28,062.