This article is for you if:
You are facing a liquidator’s request to explain or repay company transactions.
You are considering how to organise bank statements, invoices and connected-account transfers before responding.
An evidence gap or disputed figure has arisen and you need to separate what is supported, partly supported and unresolved.
A legal letter cannot repair unreconciled numbers. First identify the claim. Then build a transaction-by-transaction evidence trail. Establish what the records show before deciding what can be admitted, disputed or left unresolved.
Pause. Then organise.
You can upload the letter and transaction schedule to Unwildered and ask Caira to extract the allegations, deadlines and amounts into a working list. Check every entry against the original document.
Identify what the letter is
A liquidator may send a request for records, an investigation letter, correspondence about a company debt, a formal pre-action letter of claim or issued court papers. These are not interchangeable.
Record the sender, recipient, date, deadline, legal basis, challenged transactions, calculation, documents requested and remedy. If proceedings have been issued, or personal insolvency action is threatened, identify the court or claim number, the exact document served and the operative deadline immediately.
Section 212 of the Insolvency Act 1986 is one possible civil route. It can address alleged misapplication or retention of company property, accountability for it, misfeasance or breach of duty. Dishonesty is not required in every section 212 case.
Cooperate without guessing
Directors have duties to cooperate with the office-holder and provide relevant information and records. Accuracy is cooperation. Speculation is not.
Where the general Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct applies, parties should exchange enough information to understand their positions. A written admission can have consequences, so distinguish neutral fact, accounting classification and legal conclusion.
For example: “The payment occurred” may be proved by a statement. “It was a reimbursement” requires supporting evidence. “No liability arises” is a legal position.
Build one ledger row per transaction
Ledger field | Question answered |
|---|---|
Claim line and category | What exactly is alleged? |
Date, amount and reference | Does it match the original statement? |
Paying and receiving accounts, with legal owners | Whose money moved where? |
Current explanation | What was the payment said to be for? |
Evidence ID and page or row | Which statement, invoice or contract supports it? |
Receiving-side and onward trace | What happened after receipt? |
Accounting treatment | Expense, loan, repayment, client money, dividend or transfer? |
Status | Supported, partly supported or unresolved? |
Missing evidence | What is needed and who may hold it? |
Give each transaction and source a stable number. Preserve originals and use dated copies. Uploading manageable groups of Excel exports, statements and invoices to Unwildered can reveal possible matches, but verify ownership, purpose and accounting treatment.
Trace both sides where purpose is disputed:
company debit → receiving account → onward payment → invoice or contract → accounting entry
A bank narration is a lead, not proof. A later repayment may reduce a balance without deciding whether the original payment was proper. A personal-account payment may be legitimate, but still needs evidence.
Consider a composite example. A wholesaler pays £4,800 to its director. Statements prove both sides. An invoice and card payment support £4,500 of warehouse repairs, but £300 remains unexplained. The ledger should say “partly supported”, not “cleared”.
A correct total can still contain disputed items.
Give the professionals different jobs
Financial reconstruction | Written response |
|---|---|
Rebuild ledgers and test totals | Identify the legal claim and remedy |
Remove duplicates and trace accounts | Separate supported facts from disputed conclusions |
Classify expenses, loans and client money | Assess duty, loss, causation and procedural risk |
Identify missing source records | Turn checked facts into correspondence |
The financial reconstruction establishes the facts. The written response explains their relevance without overstating what they prove. A polished narrative cannot replace missing transaction work.
Questions people are often embarrassed to ask
Does paying company money into my account make me a criminal?
Not automatically, but it may create civil, accounting or other legal issues. Preserve both sides and trace the purpose, authority, onward payment and accounting entry.
Can I call an unexplained payment a director’s loan now?
Do not apply a convenient label retrospectively without evidence from the time. A director’s loan account is an accounting record, not a magic correction.
Must I send every file I possess?
You must comply with applicable duties and requests, but hundreds of unexplained files may not answer the allegations. Send a proportionate set that is relevant to the disputed items, preserves context and does not disclose unrelated personal material without a clear reason.
Can I delete messy spreadsheets and rebuild them?
Do not destroy or overwrite originals. Preserve the source, make a dated working copy and record each correction.
How Unwildered can help
Unwildered can help compare uploaded letters, Excel exports, invoices and statements, organise records by transaction and prepare a first-draft evidence table or response. It cannot verify every entry, decide accounting treatment or create a formal court bundle. Check every figure and link each material assertion to its source record.
This article is general information, not legal, financial, tax or medical advice.
