10: Disqualification

Directors can be disqualified for up to 15 years for:

  • Persistent default in filing returns, accounts or other company documents (these can also carry fines).
  • Fraudulent trading or fraud against the company discovered during a winding up.
  • Conviction of an indictable offence connected with running a company.
  • Breaches of competition law, eg involvement in a price-fixing cartel.
  • Actions which are deemed to make the individual unfit to be involved in the management of a company.
Failure to observe a disqualification order can lead to personal liability for the new company’s debts, a fine and a two year prison sentence.

A person who has been a director of a company in the 12 months leading up to it falling into insolvent liquidation cannot set up in business under the name of the company or its trading name or a similar one for five years from the date of liquidation.