Record jump in number of firms in financial distress

[Alan Ambrose]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9vmrpdrk4eo
 

Worth bearing in mind if you’re due to fork out a big deposit.

[ProDave]

Ask Rachael from accounts how her plan is going?

[ToughButterCup]

Thanks for the HeadsUp @Alan Ambrose

 

Quote

While there is often a jump at the end of the year of companies in critical financial distress, the report found a sharp increase of 50% from September to December last year, taking the number of businesses in this category to 46,583.

....

One factor was HMRC becoming more aggressive in recovering overdue taxes owed.

 

Lets look at this  bit of click-bait in just a tiny bit more detail, because I think this is yet another instance of statistical chicanery.

 

The time frame referred to is September 2024 to December of the same year; Rachael From Accounts started in July :  is that increase really Rachael's fault? Good companies don't fall over in just three months.

 

HMRC that unloveable group of dedicated professionals - unloved for doing their job.

 

The journalist has done his / her job. Got me to click on the link. Hands up! I'm the mug. But I'm so old I no longer care. But I do care about statistical sleight of hand. 

[Alan Ambrose]

I didn’t take it as clickbait so much although it is good marketing (in the sense of getting their name out) for the insolvency co. And they don’t have much incentive to fiddle the data or narrative - it’s not as if the article will cause a load of businesses to go bust (and thus the need for their services). A graph would have been good tho.