Director advisory
General Director AdviceFor When You Need SomeoneWhose Job Is You
Not every situation has a label. If the company is under pressure and you are not sure what you are allowed to do, what you should do next, or who is actually on your side, start here.
Free initial advice · Confidential · No obligation · Lines open 8am to 6pm, 7 days a week · Rated 5 stars on Trustpilot
Director advice explained
Straight answers for directors on where you stand and what to do next.
Advice before the situation has a name
Directors rarely arrive with a tidy problem. It is usually several things at once: a cash-flow gap, a difficult creditor, a co-director who wants out, an accountant who has gone quiet, and a nagging worry about what happens personally if it all goes wrong. This service exists for exactly that.
What this service is
A confidential, independent conversation about your company's position and your position as a director. We work out what is actually going on, what your duties require of you now, where you are personally exposed and what the realistic options are.
Sometimes the answer is a formal process. Frequently it is not; it is a negotiation, a restructure of costs, a conversation with a creditor handled properly, or simply reassurance that you are doing the right things and can stop worrying about one particular thing.
Who it is for
Directors and shareholders of limited companies who need independent input: owner-managers, co-directors in disagreement, investors concerned about a company they have backed, and directors who have simply never been in this position before.
It is not for personal debt or personal insolvency, which we do not advise on. Our work is company insolvency and director advisory.
When it is needed
Whenever the question 'am I allowed to do this?' comes up and there is nobody obvious to ask. In practice that means cash-flow pressure, a creditor threatening action, a dispute escalating, a co-director acting unilaterally, or a decision about the company's future that carries personal consequences.
Earlier is always better. Almost every option we can offer a director works best while there is still time and cash to use it.
Why independent advice matters here
Accountants prepare accounts. Solicitors handle disputes. Insolvency practitioners, once appointed, act for creditors. All are necessary, and none of them occupies the space where a director actually needs help: understanding their own position across all of it.
We act on behalf of directors and investors, we are independent of any insolvency practice, and the first conversation costs nothing.
What happens when directors go without advice
The recurring pattern is not bad intent. It is well-meaning directors taking reasonable-looking steps that turn out to carry consequences nobody warned them about.
Trading on too long
Continuing to take credit once insolvent liquidation is unavoidable can result in a personal contribution order. The date you knew is what matters, and so is what you did about it.
Preferring one creditor
Paying the supplier you need most, or the facility you guaranteed, ahead of others can be reversed and recovered later.
Personal exposure discovered late
Guarantees, an overdrawn loan account and unlawful dividends are all manageable early and expensive once a formal process has begun.
Disputes escalating
A customer or supplier dispute left to run can consume more cash and reputation than the underlying sum ever justified.
Co-director deadlock
Two directors with opposing views and no mechanism to resolve it will paralyse a company that could otherwise have been saved.
No record of advice taken
When conduct is later reviewed, the difference between a neutral and an adverse view is very often whether the director sought and followed advice at the time.
Mistakes we see directors make
- Waiting for the accountant's year-end before addressing a problem visible in March
- Relying on advice from someone who will be appointed to act for creditors
- Making decisions from a position of not knowing what the rules actually are
- Funding the company personally without documenting it or understanding the ranking
- Assuming that because the company is limited, nothing can reach you
- Not writing anything down
How we work with you
A defined sequence, so you always know what happens next and what is expected of you at each stage.
- 01
Free first call
You describe the situation in your own words. No forms, no jargon, nothing goes any further.
- 02
Position review
We work through the company's finances, creditors, guarantees, loan account and any disputes as a single picture.
- 03
Duties and exposure explained
What your duties require of you right now, and where you are personally exposed, stated plainly and specifically.
- 04
Options and a plan
Every realistic route with its cost, timescale and consequence, and a clear recommendation on what to do this week.
- 05
Alongside you throughout
Where specialists are needed, licensed insolvency practitioners, valuers, HMRC specialists, we introduce them and stay involved.
What you get out of it
Somebody in your corner
Independent advice, given only in your interest, with no appointment to sell at the end of it.
Clarity instead of worry
Most directors are carrying a specific fear that turns out to be either unfounded or straightforwardly manageable. Naming it helps.
Decisions you can defend
Advice taken and acted on is precisely what an office-holder or the Insolvency Service looks for if conduct is reviewed.
Access to specialists
Licensed insolvency practitioners, an independent panel of auctioneers and valuers, and specialist HMRC input through a retired former HMRC inspector.
Available around the clock
Lines are open 8am to 6pm, seven days a week, including weekends, when many directors finally get the chance to ring.
No cost to start
The first conversation is free and carries no obligation whatsoever.
What director advisory actually covers
The remit is deliberately broad, because the problems arrive that way. These are the areas that come up most.
Directors' duties when a company is in difficulty
While a company is solvent, directors act in the interests of shareholders. As it approaches insolvency, that duty shifts towards the interests of creditors as a whole. Most directors have never been told this, and it is the single most consequential thing to understand.
In practice it changes how you treat payments, credit, asset disposals and drawings. Getting it right is largely a matter of knowing where the line is and keeping a record of the decisions taken.
Common situations we advise on
Some of these have their own dedicated service; many arrive tangled together.
- Cash-flow pressure and creditor threats, including statutory demands
- HMRC arrears, enforcement and Time to Pay negotiations
- Bounce Back Loans and other pandemic-era lending
- Personal guarantees and lender demands
- Overdrawn director's loan accounts and dividend treatment
- Co-director and shareholder disputes, and exits from a company
- Customer or supplier disputes threatening reputation and trade
- Whether a business can be restructured, and how to do it defensibly
Disputes and reputation
Not every threat to a company is financial. An Oxford transport company came to us after being accused of fraud and theft by a finance company, having unknowingly bought plant machinery that turned out to be stolen and already financed elsewhere. We set out to prove they were the victims, and their business was restored and lost contracts retrieved.
Where a dispute rather than the balance sheet is the problem, the answer is usually containment and negotiation, but it needs handling early, before positions harden.
Working alongside your existing advisers
We do not replace your accountant or solicitor. We work with them. Accountants are excellent at accounts and often uncomfortable advising on insolvency exposure; solicitors handle the legal dispute in front of them. Our role is to sit across the whole picture on your behalf and make sure nothing is falling between the professionals involved.
Where a licensed insolvency practitioner is needed, we make the introduction and prepare you for it, and we stay in the room afterwards.
What you can expect from us
A direct answer, including when the answer is that we cannot help or that you do not need us. Confidentiality without exception. Availability at unsociable hours. And advice given on the basis that our duty is to you as a director, not to your creditors.
Clients tell us the same things: quick to respond, easy to talk to, and honest about the position. That is the standard we work to.
Where we advise
Offices near Alton in Hampshire and in Manchester, Leeds, Bradford and Birmingham, with a registered office in Northampton. We advise directors nationwide, wherever you are.
Questions directors ask us about this
What does the first call cost?
Nothing. It is free, confidential and carries no obligation. If we cannot help, we will tell you and point you in a better direction.
I am not sure my problem is serious enough. Should I still call?
Yes. The directors who get the best outcomes are almost always the ones who called earlier than they thought necessary. There is no minimum threshold.
Will anything I say be reported or disclosed?
No. The conversation is confidential, nothing is reported anywhere, and nobody is contacted on your behalf without your instruction.
Are you insolvency practitioners?
No. Phoenix Company Consultants Ltd is a director advisory firm acting for directors and investors. We hold no insolvency licences and make no claim to formal insolvency qualifications. Where a formal process is needed we introduce you to practitioners licensed under the Insolvency Act.
Do you help with personal debt or bankruptcy?
No. We advise on company insolvency and director matters only. We do not provide personal insolvency or personal debt advice.
Can you speak to my accountant?
Yes, with your permission. We regularly work alongside accountants and solicitors rather than instead of them.
What if I have already taken steps I am worried about?
Tell us. It is far easier to address something now, while it can be explained and evidenced, than once an office-holder is asking about it. The conversation is confidential.
How quickly can I speak to someone?
Lines are open 8am to 6pm, seven days a week, and the first conversation is usually same-day.
Do I have to do anything after the call?
No. Plenty of directors take the free advice, act on it themselves and never need us again. That is a perfectly good outcome.
Do you cover my area?
We advise directors nationwide, with offices near Alton in Hampshire and in Manchester, Leeds, Bradford and Birmingham, and a registered office in Northampton.
Still not sure it applies to you?
Describe the situation in one call. If this is not the right service for you, we will say so and point you to the one that is.
0330 223 5754Free · Confidential · No obligation · Lines open 8am to 6pm, 7 days a week
Talk it through with someone independent
Free, confidential and no obligation. Describe the situation in your own words and get a straight answer on where you stand and what to do next.
0330 223 575407770 666896- The initial conversation is genuinely free and carries no obligation
- Everything you tell us stays between us
- We are independent: we act for you, not for your creditors
Free, confidential and no obligation. Company insolvency and director advisory only; we do not advise on personal debt.