Insolvency expert and director of advisory firm John Fisk says he once turned up to a receivership job to find brand new BMWs sitting in the carpark.
When he asked who they belonged to, the director told him he and his colleague had bought them as they were working so hard, they deserved a treat. “It did nothing for the business, and it created massive problems for them.”
Speaking at the building industry conference Constructive about the patterns he sees when firms get into trouble, Fisk says he has seen many examples of unnecessary financial commitments and lifestyle creep as well as optimism bias and “robbing Peter to pay Paul”.
“They are easy traps to fall into,” he says. “As a business grows, it becomes…