The director of a hotel in the Highlands of Scotland has been disqualified for seven years for failing to maintain adequate company records, register her company for VAT, submit annual accounts or pay corporation tax and PAYE, following an Insolvency Service investigation
Nancy Georgeson was the director of NJMAC Enterprises Ltd which traded as the Marine Hotel, Station Road, Mallaig. The company was set up in 2010 and placed into liquidation in February 2015
The investigation found that between October 2012 and January 2014, Georgeson failed to ensure that NJMAC maintained and/or preserved adequate accounting records, meaning it was not possible to account for the company’s assets, income or expenditure, determine the level of director’s remuneration or assess the extent to which the company had liabilities to HMRC.
The accounts to 30 September 2012, show that the company had assets of £176,818, consisting of £127,141 in a shareholders loan, £45,577 in a loan to an associated company and £4,100 in stock. In the absence of accounting records it has not been possible to ascertain whether these assets have been realised to the benefit of the company through disposition prior to the liquidation, or represent potential realisations in the proceedings for the benefit of creditors.
Professionally prepared financial statements show that the company turnover for the period to 30 September 2011 was £306,494 and for the year ended 30 September 2012 was £293,689, suggesting it should have been VAT registered. The financial statements to 30 September 2012 show that the company owed £80,484 in respect of VAT. HMRC has advised that NJMAC was not registered for VAT and no payments were made in respect of VAT.
The lack of any subsequent sales and purchase invoices/ ledgers or a cashbook also mean it is not possible to verify what sales were generated by the company or to account for its expenditure, or whether it was liable for VAT.
Robert Clarke, investigations group leader at the Insolvency Service said: ‘Without a full account of transactions it is impossible to determine whether a director has discharged duties properly, or is using a lack of documentation as a cloak for impropriety. Ms Georgeson has paid the price for failing to do that, as she cannot now carry on in business other than at her own risk.’
