Disciplinary

REGULATORY NOTICE

Mrs Penny McCoull

In terms of Regulation 5.33 of ICAS’ Insolvency Regulations, notice is hereby given that the ICAS Authorisation Committee has applied a regulatory penalty of £3,500 to a licensed Insolvency Practitioner, Mrs Penny McCoull, in respect of the following four issues:

1. A failure to take appropriate steps to verify the information provided by a claims management company before submitting claims to the Redundancy Payments Office.  
2. In two appointments, there was insufficient evidence of (a) appropriate action to recover books and records from directors, (b) a proper investigation of Covid-related loans, and (c) a reasonable level of work and consideration on the files (contrary to the principles in SIP 2). 
3. Pre-appointment fees were drawn in four CVLs without the necessary approval from creditors, in breach of Rule 6.7 of the Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016.
4. Unsatisfactory delays in the payment of a dividend to creditors in one case, with a lack of progress reports. 

Issues 1, 2, and 3 occurred while Mrs McCoull was employed by McLaren Insolvency Practitioners Limited, whil issue 4 arose through work in her own practice, ASM Recovery.

The Committee was satisfied that a regulatory penalty was appropriate in the circumstances, with a single penalty applied to cover the four issues. In calculating the level of penalty, the Committee consulted the Sanctions Guidance which is shared by the Insolvency RBSs, and took account of mitigating factors, including steps which Mrs McCoull has taken to try to resolve the issues.

Nelson Gilmour Smith Limited

In terms of Regulation 7.14 (b) of the Audit Regulations and Guidance, notice is hereby given that the ICAS Authorisation Committee has applied a regulatory penalty of £1,000 to the audit-registered firm of Nelson Gilmour Smith Limited (Firm number 4422). 

The firm has acknowledged that it failed to comply with Regulations 4.01, 4.04, and 4.05 of the Audit Regulations in so far as the firm allowed an individual to sign audit reports over X Limited on 6 June 2023 and Y Limited on 24 September 2023, when the firm was aware or ought to have been aware that the individual did not hold Responsible Individual status at the date of signature and was therefore not authorised to sign such reports.