Business Advisory & Resources Hub
An information hub for business owners and directors. Containing free articles and advice on issues relevant to the current economic climate.
Resources for Business Owners & Directors
As an advisory firm, we assists clients to achieve their objectives, enhance value and attain the best possible results. We work with businesses through every stage of the lifecycle – enabling clients to gain control of challenges, supporting plans for change, and helping them to accelerate growth.
We work with clients when they are facing financial or operational difficulties and seeking turnaround support, restructuring advice, or guidance on insolvency options.
Some clients are looking to plan for growth and are exploring strategic expansion, merger and acquisition, or investment opportunities.
We have supported clients going through a crisis; where they need help in navigating unexpected disruptions, such as market volatility, supply chain issues or regulatory change.
When taking a next step in growing or diversifying their business, we have provided expert insight to support informed choices about their business direction, risk mitigation or stakeholder engagement.
At the point there has been a dispute or concern about the business, such as internal conflicts, potential fraud or exit plans, we have independently investigated the concern and provided remedial options.
For any of these moments, business owners and/or directors can benefit from additional and responsive support from professionals that understand the exact needs of their business.
Our advisory and resources hub provides up-to-date information from all of our specialist areas, to help build awareness, mitigate challenges, and assist well-informed decisions.
Advisory Articles
Below are our most recent articles that support decision making for business owners and directors and provide more details about topics in our markets. If you would like to speak to a member of the Opus team now, please call the central office number on 0203 995 6380 and we will connect you with one of our team based on your location and enquiry. If you want to schedule some time, our team can be contacted on .
Overlooked insolvency risks: Protecting cash flow when a customer fails
A key customer just failed. Now what? When directors think about insolvency risk, they often focus on their own business. However, one of the greatest threats to a healthy company can be the failure of another.
The good news is that there are practical steps every business owner can take to reduce exposure and strengthen resilience.
Overdrawn director’s loan accounts: risks, implications and next steps
Drawing funds outside salary or dividends is a normal part of running an owner-managed business. However, when balances grow without clear repayment terms, what started as a short-term arrangement can become a longer-term liability.
This article explains what an overdrawn DLA means in practice, the personal and business risks involved and the steps that may help reduce exposure before options narrow.
What happens if directors’ fiduciary duties are breached?
Most breaches of directors’ fiduciary duties aren’t deliberate. They arise gradually through informal decision-making, unaddressed conflicts, or continued trading as financial pressure builds.
Yet the duties themselves are clear: directors must act in the company’s interests, exercise independent judgement and avoid conflicts between personal and corporate interests.
See all articles for business owners and directors
Above are the most recently published articles for business owners and directors. For all articles, click on the button below.
Opus is a UK‑based firm with 16 offices across the UK, alongside an office in Bermuda, all led by experienced local Partners. As a firm, we are dedicated to guiding clients through the next stages of their business journey and providing commercially focused, results‑driven support.
Advisory Services
Our dedicated divisions provide specialist expertise in their respective fields, but our strength lies in how they work together. By drawing on expertise from across the business, we can look at the bigger picture and bring together the right people and services to meet each client’s specific needs.
Strategic Advisory
Turnaround & Advisory
Helping to protect viable businesses to reorganise their operations, debts, or assets in order to continue trading and survive as a going concern. Services include Independent Business Reviews, Moratoriums, Pre-Pack Administrations and Restructuring Plans.
Cash & Liquidity Management
Helping businesses gain control over cash flow and short-term liquidity, particularly where funding is tight or trading conditions have become unpredictable.
Debt Advisory
Supporting businesses and their stakeholders through refinancing, restructuring or renegotiating existing debt arrangements. Whether the goal is fresh funding, amended terms, or a full restructuring of existing facilities.
Special Situations
Providing rapid, practical support to businesses facing acute or unusual financial and operational challenges that fall outside standard advisory processes.
Working Capital Optimisation
Helping businesses unlock cash tied up in day-to-day operations by improving how working capital is managed across the business.
Corporate Strategy & Positioning
Helping businesses define where they’re going and how to get there; from market positioning and growth strategy through to board-level governance and oversight.
Business
Transformation
Supporting businesses as they navigate complex change to improve performance, adapt to new technologies, and meet evolving customer needs.
Value
Creation
Working with businesses and their stakeholders to identify and unlock opportunities for growth and improved performance.
Value
Stabilisation
Protecting and preserving business value during periods of pressure or uncertainty, before formal intervention becomes necessary.
Grant Services
Grant Funding Identification & Strategy
We combine specialist grant expertise with purpose-built search software to identify relevant opportunities and assess eligibility across R&D, capital investment, innovation, recruitment, and other eligible project costs
Grant Application Support & Writing
Providing end-to-end drafting, review, and consultation. We combine specialist expertise with AI-enabled bid-writing software to help clients secure funding for eligible projects.
Corporate Finance
Deal
Advisory
When a business needs funding to scale, we find the right partner at the right terms. Our network expands from private equity, venture capital to alternative finance.
Sell-Side
M&A
We run the full sale process from preparation and positioning through to completion. Our client gets maximum value, minimum disruption.
Buy-Side
Advisory
For clients looking to grow through acquisition, we support target identification, deal structuring and negotiation through to completion.
Management Buy-Outs / Buy-Ins
Advising management teams on acquiring the business they run. We support structuring, finance sourcing and shareholder negotiations or external parties buying into a new opportunity.
Employee Ownership Transactions (EOT)
Supporting the structuring and delivering tax-efficient employee buyouts, often as a succession strategy for founders.
Restructuring & Insolvency
Solvent
Restructuring
Helping viable, solvent companies reorganise efficiently: simplifying group structures, extracting value, closing dormant entities, or repositioning for sale or succession.
Insolvency
We undertake all aspects of insolvency for companies, partnerships and individuals, covering the full range of formal procedures; from administrations and liquidations through to bankruptcies and individual voluntary arrangements.
Personal
Insolvency
Supporting individuals who cannot afford to pay their debts within a reasonable amount of time, with practical, confidential advice on the full range of personal insolvency remedies.
Property Recovery
& Advisory
Our team provides lenders, asset managers and property professionals a dedicated resource for protecting and enhancing the value of secured property assets.
Contentious
Insolvency
Support through the litigation that can follow a formal insolvency process, including misfeasance and breach of duty claims, wrongful and fraudulent trading, preference and transaction-at-undervalue claims, and asset recovery litigation.
Client
Services
Providing creditor support for lenders, funders, councils and other creditors with dedicated representation and oversight across every stage of the insolvency process.
Forensic Accounting
Investigations
Whether the matter involves fraud, breaches of duty, misuse of funds, or financial misconduct; we trace fund flows, uncover conflicts of interest, and produce findings that hold up to scrutiny.
Valuations
Independent valuations for dispute resolution, matrimonial proceedings, intellectual property, commercial agency agreements and compulsory purchase.
Disputes
Independent financial analysis and expert opinion for commercial disputes, shareholder conflicts, contractual breaches, post-transaction disputes and construction disputes.
Litigation
Support
Expert financial evidence for legal teams and courts, including CPR-compliant expert witness reports and oral testimony.
Corporate
Intelligence
Helping clients make informed decisions through enhanced due diligence, background research, and intelligence-led insights into individuals, businesses, and complex commercial environments.
Keeping Informed
Sign up to our monthly newsletter sharing the latest insights and industry news