A FIRM run by one of Liverpool’s best-known accountants owed creditors more than £480,000 when it collapsed late last year.
It was announced on December 4 that Jackson LLP and its eight staff, founded by Claire Jackson, was merging with Bolton-based accountancy practice, Cowgill Holloway.
However, LDP Business can reveal that this wasn’t actually a merger in the traditional sense, as Jackson had already collapsed into administration on December 1.
Shortly afterwards Cowgill, led by managing partner Paul Stansfield, acquired the goodwill of Jackson for £80,000.
However, the firm did not take on Jackson’s debts, leaving more than 40 creditors, including a number of local small traders, out of pocket to the tune of almost £481,000.
Jackson owed banks, including Royal Bank of Scotland, Alliance and Leicester (now Santander), BNP Paribas and Bank of Ireland, more than £260,000.
Other creditors included the Inland Revenue, which was owed almost £125,000, and Liverpool City Council, which was owed more than £21,000.
Ms Jackson said yesterday that the money owed to the banks and the Inland Revenue had been personally guaranteed, and had been paid back, but admitted unsecured creditors would get nothing.
Last week, Cowgill Holloway held a launch event to mark the opening of its Liverpool office, to be run by Ms Jackson and her staff, at the Palm Sugar bar/restaurant, in Liverpool One.
On the day of the event, Ms Jackson said: “We have a team in Liverpool who have many years’ experience in the Merseyside market and understand the local culture.
“The key to good service provision in our profession is the ability to add value to our clients’ business through creativity and innovation.”
The event was attended by prominent members of Liverpool’s business community including Mike Taylor, investment director at regeneration agency Liverpool Vision, and Mark Fuller, former chief executive of Merseyside Special Investment Fund.
Mr Taylor said: “I am excited that Cowgill Holloway has invested in the Liverpool market in this way, and I am sure that the combined experience and passion of Claire Jackson and her established team in the Liverpool market, together with the award-winning service and expertise of Cowgill Holloway, will be a great benefit to Liverpool.”
Ms Jackson had run the Liverpool office of Manchester accountants Hurst from 1998 to January last year when she split from the firm to form Jackson LLP.
The new Cowgill Holloway operation is based at The Plaza, in Old Hall Street, just a couple of hundred yards from Jackson LLP’s former home at 20 Chapel Street.
Yesterday, Ms Jackson said: “All the bank debt and what we owed the Inland Revenue has been paid. We did what we could to protect our staff and our clients.”
Ms Jackson started her career as a book-keeper with Mersey Television when she was 20.
She then moved to Grant Thornton, where she was the only female manager, before being headhunted to join Hurst.
