ABSTRACT
Winding up, also known as liquidation, is the legal process which leads to the existence of the company ceasing with its assets being administered for the benefit of creditors and shareholders. This chapter provides an overview of the procedures that apply when a company’s existence as a separate legal entity is to end. The concern that has to be appreciated is to avoid commercial disorder by having available, under the Insolvency Act 1986, legal methods for dissolution. An individual to lawfully act as an insolvency practitioner must be authorized by a recognized professional body; or a competent authority set up by the Secretary of State. The object of a voluntary winding up is that the company and its creditors are left to settle their affairs themselves and so avoid having to apply to the court for assistance. The procedure for a voluntary winding up is divided into two: a members’ voluntary winding up or creditors’ voluntary winding up.
