Leonard Curtis is one of the largest independent firms in the UK specialising in

corporate recovery A corporate recovery (also referred to as corporate turnaround, restructuring, retrenchment, or downsizing) is a rescue undertaken by professional accountants or financiers who are trained to assist the management of a company in financial and othe ...

insolvency In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company ( debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be ''insolvent''. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet i ...

and business

restructuring Restructuring or Reframing is the corporate management term for the act of reorganizing the legal, ownership, operational, or other structures of a company for the purpose of making it more profitable, or better organized for its present needs. ...

. It is a national practice with more than 290 employees operating nationally from 28 UK and offshore locations. Leonard Curtis is a member firm of Nexia International, a worldwide network of

accounting Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the process of recording and processing information about economic entity, economic entities, such as businesses and corporations. Accounting measures the results of an organization's economic activit ...

and

consulting A consultant (from "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice or services in an area of specialization (generally to medium or large-size corporations). Cons ...

firms.

History

The firm was founded by Leonard Curtis, who retired in 1983. In 1997 the firm considered and rejected a merger with Levy Gee, a general accountancy firm that went on to form Numerica. Leonard Curtis partners stated that they preferred to remain a specialist firm. In 1998, two offices in Manchester and Liverpool with 30 staff left the firm for BDO Stoy Hayward.People & Business
The Independent, 3 March 1998 Later in 1998, Leonard Curtis formed a joint venture, Fisher Curtis, with the insolvency arm of H. W. Fisher. The arrangement lasted only two years before the firms separated again. In 2023, it became a member firm of Nexia International.

Awards

Leonard Curtis won the mid-sized firm prize as Corporate Recovery Firm of the Year at the inaugural Insolvency and Rescue Awards 2008, run by ''Credit Today'' magazine. The firm was awarded Business Recovery Specialist of the Year at the 2010 Business

Moneyfacts Moneyfacts Group Plc is a financial information company founded in 1988 based in Norwich in the United Kingdom, employing over 80 people. History Moneyfacts was founded in 1988 by John Woods, who led the financial industry group which was est ...

Awards. The judging panel said: "By providing companies with positive strategic advice, Leonard Curtis has enabled many of them to retain control of their business. The Corporate Strategies team continues to focus on the critical issues, providing clear recommendations together with restructuring and refinancing services to both growing and underperforming businesses."

Controversy

"The Liquidation Game", a 1996 edition of

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

's investigative documentary '' Dispatches'', made allegations of sharp practice in the insolvency profession. Keith Goodman, then a partner in Leonard Curtis (later both Senior Partner of the firm and President of the IPA), claimed that a case of his was presented in a biased way, and sought an apology. However, the Broadcasting Complaints Commission rejected his complaint, saying that his case was sufficiently well set apart from other more serious allegations in the programme.Goodman loses C4 fight
''Accountancy Age'', 8 Aug 1997

References

External links

Official website
{{Use dmy dates, date=April 2020 Companies based in Manchester Insolvency and corporate recovery firms Accounting firms of the United Kingdom