We
act for accountants, auditors and independent financial advisors at
all stages of a dispute from the pre-litigation stage, to
litigation and arbitration. We act for everyone from
small, one principal practices to multinational operations.
We are also experienced in dealing with complaints to the Financial
Ombudsman Service.
We cover disputes arising from tax planning and the provision of
general accountancy services. We have acted for auditors who
were accused of failing to identify a complex fraud being conducted
by directors of a limited company. Peter Anderson chairs the
Discipline Tribunal of the Institute of Chartered Accountants
of Scotland which allows him to bring a unique perspective to
resolving claims and maintaining the relationship between the
accountant and their client.
As for IFA's we are seeing an increasing number of claims
arising out of both short and long term investment advice. We
recently acted in David Clark v Argyle Consulting Limited [2010] CSOH
154 in which Mr Clark suggested that an employee
of the defender had been negligent in providing him advice on his
personal pension plans. Before commencing litigation Mr Clark
had made a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service but as Mr
Clark failed to accept the Ombudsman's final decision he was taken
as rejecting it. A preliminary issue in the litigation was
whether Mr Clark was time-barred from bringing his claim because he
raised the action at least 7 years after his cause of action
arose. The court did not accept Mr Clark's argument that the
claim to the Ombudsman interrupted the prescription period and the
judge dismissed Mr Clark's claim.