A former director is asked to sign an account acknowledgement
Distinguish factual account reconciliation from a former guarantor personal acknowledgment or new undertaking under creditor document.
Corporate Recovery Partners
01 / 06
A routine-looking form may contain more than a balance
You left the company but remain concerned about an old guarantee. A creditor sends a balance confirmation and asks you to sign so the account can be sorted out. Read the complete document and obtain advice before signing. Do not assume the form merely checks arithmetic, or that your former role gives you authority to acknowledge matters for the company now.
Imagine a former director receiving a document addressed personally, with a signature block referring to both the company and guarantor. Give the adviser the form and earlier guarantee. Ask what capacity the creditor expects and what the wording would do. A familiar company account number does not establish that the request has no personal significance.
business.gov.au recommends understanding contractual wording before agreeing and seeking advice when it is unclear. Ask the lawyer to identify any admission, payment promise, release or new undertaking within the document. Do not decide its effect from the title balance confirmation. The legal consequences depend on the actual words and circumstances, including your existing obligations.
Provide records lawfully available to you and identify amounts you cannot verify after leaving. Do not certify that every later invoice is correct merely because the opening balance looks familiar. In the former-director example, the current company may hold information needed for reconciliation. Ask how that information should be obtained through authorised channels rather than using old credentials.
Have the adviser help formulate an appropriate response or request for clarification. Do not sign for the company without authority or promise personal payment simply to obtain more records. Keep the creditor's request and your response together. If a demand or proceeding is also active, have its requirements addressed separately rather than assuming the reconciliation discussion pauses them.
Record which figures were confirmed, what remained disputed and whether any document was ultimately agreed. Keep copies with the guarantee file. A careful response allows factual account questions to be addressed without accidentally treating a former director's signature as a routine administrative step whose wider effect nobody has considered.
