Customers collapse owing money. You get to hear about how a customer who owes money to a business has gone into insolvency. All too often, you give the business a sympathetic ear but can do nothing to help them so quietly express relief that it hasn’t happened to you. It happens a lot during recessions. It also happens as the economy grows again and companies overstretch themselves. It happens in the cloud sector too: 2e2 famously got into financial difficulties last year.

You should be aware that that you might be able to do something about this. If you are a creditor of a failed company or you have certain rights, and if you are are sizable creditor compared with other creditors, you have influence too: influence to appoint a person of your choice to run the insolvency.

So if you feel aggrieved that, for example, the customer’s directors have been doing naughty things, you can get the satisfaction of having them thoroughly investigated and maybe even sued personally by the liquidator. This can also have the effect of bringing money back to creditors including you. Oh, and it will cost you nil, nada, zilch.

If you hear about any such misfortunes occurring to your contacts — or if it happens to you — you should take action as soon as possible (speed is of the essence) as you may be able to influence the choice of insolvency practitioner and get assistance with your debt. Now that’s worth doing.