Been absent from the blogosphere for a few weeks trying to deal with some business issues, not of my own making. So I thought I would share one of these with you.
Recently I have unfortunately been a victim of bad business practice as a South Wales company, 4Ward Development, to whom I have been providing services for over the last three years have gone into administration. I am now owed monies which I am unlikely ever to see again as I am one of the 62 other creditors and I am sure that HMRC etc will get their first!
What are the lessons that can be learnt from this?
Well, you have to keep on top of your invoices and chasing for payment….sounds obvious I know, but when you are running a small business and you are responsible for keeping all aspects of your business going, sometimes we take our eye off the ball and splat!
There were warning signs about the state of this business for the previous six months with every excuse being given as to why they couldn’t pay. These are the sort of warning signs that should alert you to checking the companies credit rating. Credit rating can be done through the main banks for a small monthly fee and sure enough 4Ward development were seen as a risk. I subsequently pushed to get some large invoices paid, which thankfully they were.
It is still gutting that the smaller, but not insignificant, invoice which is outstanding will not get paid. It is even more distressing that this company employed a lot of local trainers and supplied a lot of local companies in the South Wales area all of whom are now worse off. The reputation of training providers will be damaged by this and we will all be having to deal with the repercussions for months if not years to come.
However, the people I feel for as a professional trainer, are the candidates who are mid-way through a qualification who appear to have been left high & dry. They have done the work and just need assessing….but who will assess? How will they achieve their qualification? What impression do they have of so called professional training providers?
Finally the bit that makes me really cross is the fact that this company have squandered a lot of Welsh Government money which we as tax paying business people have struggled to pay. I hope that such people are not allowed to run businesses in the future, although I fear that the rules of insolvency are not strict enough!
Thanks for your time, rant over!!
Suzanne Unsworth
