ibd was asked to investigate a company’s reducing profits by a shareholder. The company had a turnover of approximately £750,000 and had always been profitable when the shareholder ran the company. He had effectively retired and a new director had been brought in to manage the company. After he had been in post for some time, sales had remained satisfactory, but profits had steadily fallen away without there appearing to be a logical reason.

The initial investigation put suspicion on the activities of the new director and a plan was devised to identify the exact nature and extent of the problem. As a result, evidence was collected showing that the director was invoicing some of the sales through a separate company.

Appropriate action was taken and the shareholder was advised on how to regain control of the company and return it to its former profitability levels.