When a company falls behind on payments to creditors, the board usually has more options than it thinks. A Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) lets a struggling but viable business keep trading while it pays down debt over an agreed period, rather than shutting its doors. Knowing which advisory firms actually handle this work and how they differ matters before a director picks up the phone.
The six firms below all sit somewhere in the UK business advisory and restructuring space, though their scale and focus vary a lot. Some are large multi-service advisory groups. Others work specifically with directors facing insolvency decisions. Reading the differences before a creditor meeting or a winding-up petition lands is a lot easier than reading them after.
Best for Director-Focused Insolvency Guidance – Director First
Director First gives UK company directors board-level insolvency guidance built around structured governance pathways, rather than generic financial advice bolted onto a wider accountancy practice. The firm’s Company Voluntary Arrangement service is built for directors who want to keep the business trading while paying off debts over time in a managed arrangement, instead of jumping straight to closure.
The advice comes from people with real boardroom experience, so directors get guidance on governance risks and fiduciary duties alongside the practical mechanics of a CVA. The initial consultation is free and confidential, and it’s designed to help a director work through rescue options and understand what liquidation would actually involve before committing to either path.
Director First has built a large following for its insolvency content, with 550+ videos on what it describes as the leading UK YouTube channel for insolvency advice, which gives directors a way to research their situation before ever booking a call. Fixed-fee pricing follows the initial assessment, and for a Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation the fee starts from £5,000 plus VAT, with a separate £33 Companies House fee for a straightforward company strike-off. Directors researching the firm online will find a 5.0 rating on Trustpilot, which is a useful check for anyone deciding who to trust with a confidential financial conversation.
This is the right call for a director who wants someone who has sat on the other side of a boardroom table, not just a technical adviser reading from a script.
Best for Cross-Border Restructuring Deals – Interpath
Interpath works with businesses, their investors and the wider stakeholder group around a deal, covering advisory and restructuring together with broader corporate deal-making. Its restructuring arm sits alongside a deals and advisory practice, which suits a company where the insolvency question is tangled up with a wider transaction, such as a sale process running in parallel with a restructuring plan.
The trade-off is that a firm built around deals, advisory and restructuring as three linked practices is likely to suit larger or more complex situations better than a small owner-managed company that just needs a straightforward CVA. For a mid-market or larger business already thinking about investors and stakeholders beyond its own board, that breadth is exactly the point.
Best for Blending Restructuring with Growth Planning – Opus Restructuring & Insolvency
Opus Restructuring & Insolvency assists both businesses and individuals facing financial and operational challenges, and it also supports change and growth opportunities rather than treating restructuring as purely a rescue-or-close decision. That dual focus makes it a reasonable fit for a director who sees the current difficulty as one stage in a longer turnaround, not just a problem to close out.
It’s a fairly generalist positioning covering both financial distress and growth support, so a director wanting a firm that talks about nothing but insolvency day to day may find the scope broader than needed.
Best for International Reach with Local Advisers – Azets
Azets pairs local advisers with the backing of a larger international network and what it describes as progressive technology, positioning itself as an advisor of choice across business advisory services generally. For a company with operations or creditors in more than one country, having local contacts backed by a bigger organisation behind them can simplify communication.
The flip side of that scale is that Azets covers business advisory services broadly rather than presenting insolvency and CVA work as its narrow focus, so a director wants to be clear on the actual practice they’ll be dealing with before committing.
Best for Combined Audit, Tax and Advisory Needs – Crowe UK
Crowe UK provides audit, tax, advisory and consulting services under one roof, built around what it calls exceptional service and strong professional standards. A company already using Crowe for audit or tax work might reasonably extend that relationship into restructuring advice rather than bringing in a fresh adviser who doesn’t know the accounts.
Because the firm’s identity is spread across audit, tax, advisory and consulting, insolvency work sits as one part of a much wider practice rather than the singular focus, which suits a business wanting one relationship across several disciplines rather than a specialist.
Best for Simplifying Complex Professional Services – S&W Group
S&W Group frames its work around simplifying the complex and shaping professional services and solutions across a broad client base, rather than presenting a single named restructuring product. Its positioning leans on clarity and problem-solving generally, which can suit a director who wants a professional services partner rather than a narrowly defined insolvency specialist.
What Actually Happens in a CVA
A Company Voluntary Arrangement is a formal, legally binding agreement between a company and its creditors, proposed by the directors and supervised by a licensed insolvency practitioner. Creditors vote on the proposal, and if enough of them (by value of debt) agree, it binds every creditor covered by the arrangement, including those who voted against it.
The company keeps trading throughout, which is the main reason directors consider a CVA over liquidation. Debts get repaid over an agreed schedule, usually from future trading profits, rather than through an immediate asset sale. That makes it a very different route from a Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation, which closes the company down and distributes what’s left to creditors.
Not every struggling company qualifies. A CVA only works if the underlying business is viable once the debt burden is restructured. A business with a broken model, not just a cash flow problem, usually needs a different route such as administration or liquidation.
Getting an early, honest assessment of which category a company falls into is what most advisers spend their first conversation establishing, and it’s a decision that shapes everything that follows, much like the governance questions covered when a firm such as Baker Tilly Mooney Moore grows its own audit leadership team to keep pace with client demand.
Which One Is Right for You
The right adviser mostly comes down to the size and shape of the problem. A company tangled up in a wider deal or investor situation is better served by a firm like Interpath, built around advisory and restructuring together. A business already using one firm for audit and tax might lean towards Crowe UK for the convenience of one relationship, while a company with international creditors could value the local-plus-network model at Azets.
Businesses that see the current crunch as one chapter in a longer growth story may find Opus Restructuring & Insolvency’s dual focus on distress and growth useful, and a company after a broader professional services relationship might prefer the general problem-solving approach at S&W Group.
For a director who wants to speak to someone with actual boardroom experience, get a free and confidential first conversation and see fixed fees before committing to anything, Director First is the strongest match on the list.
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