Deloitte partner begins presidency at trade body

DELOITTE PARTNER Lee Manning today begins his role as president of insolvency trade body R3.

Manning, (pictured) partner in restructuring services at Deloitte, has worked on high profile retail administrations such as Oddbins and Land of Leather and is also a sport insolvency expert having been administrator to Millwall, Bradford City, Swindon Town and Richmond Professional rugby club - when it was in the Premiership.

He joined Deloitte in 2004 after spending more than 14 years with Kroll. Manning succeeds Frances Coulson, a partner at law firm Moon Beever, who steps down after a year but will continue to sit on the council.

"I am relishing the chance to build on the ambassadorial role that previous presidents have established and advise on the effectiveness of changes to the insolvency regime. Globally, we know our regime compares favourably, for example to the US, but there are changes we can make to facilitate fewer liquidations and increase business rescues," said Manning.

"This would include ending uncertainty over the current expenses in Administration regime and implementing R3's ‘rescue to ransom' campaign, targeting suppliers who demand ransom payments from companies facing insolvency. Combined, these two measures could save nearly 5,000 more businesses a year."

Earlier this month Manning defended the insolvency profession against the British Property Federation which claimed there needed to be tighter regulation. He also came 19th in the Accountancy Age Financial Power list.