Directors’ responsibilities

Your financial responsibilities

 As a director, you are accountable for the financial actions of your company. Moreover, if the company fails and you are found to have been negligent, you could be held personally liable.

The specific financial areas where you and any fellow directors are particularly responsible include:

– ensuring PAYE, NIC and VAT are accounted for and paid correctly.

– preparation and submission of annual accounts to Companies House.

– preventing the company from borrowing more money than it can repay.

You also have a responsibility not to make personal gain at the expense of the company. As a director, you control the day-to-day activities within the business on behalf of the shareholders.

Other responsibilities of a director

A limited company has obligations which you, as a director, must see are fulfilled. These include:

– oversight of all health and safety matters in the company.

– responsibility for employees and for complying with employment law.

– submission of an annual return to Companies House.

If you are unsure as to whether you or other directors are meeting all the requirements of company law, it would be wise to seek professional advice.

Decision-making powers of directors

Because you are responsible for directing the day-to-day activities of your company, you have extensive powers to make important decisions.

These include choosing which markets the company will enter, signing major contracts and borrowing money. These powers should never be used lightly and usually in conjunction with other directors.

Limits to what can be done may be imposed by the Articles of Association, which all companies are required to have. If you are unsure about what you can do, these are a good place to start finding out.

Directors can seek help from Business Recovery

If you are worried about the financial position that your company is in, or is heading towards, talk to one of our Business Recovery specialists.

Financial concerns are the most common problems faced by directors. Your business is fundamentally sound, but circumstances have pushed your cash flow towards a critical position. Without cash, you can’t function, and years of hard work could be undone almost overnight.

We have helped hundreds of businesses to discover new sources of cash, through our network of specialist funders.

Don’t allow financial worries to continue nagging at you. Deal with them by picking up the phone now to call one of the Business Recovery experts.