Don't shoot the vet.

Finian Manson’s diatribe about insolvency practitioners (Letters, page 13, 5 July) left me wondering: does Veterinary Age receive such attacks against vets from bereaved pet lovers whose animals have been put down?

Insolvency practitioners who work for banks are better rewarded for, and will therefore focus on, preserving their client banks’ customers.

This is because an ongoing customer relationship is more profitable for a bank than recovery, possibly only partial, of a bad debt. But even if the corporate shell cannot be preserved, the business – and with it employment for the staff and a continuing revenue source for creditor-suppliers – often will be, because businesses usually realise more than their constituent assets.

The insolvency practitioner whose work sources are non-bank will also maximise the return to the creditors who authorise his remuneration, often preserving their trading relationships with the debtor business. The commercial drivers for insolvency practitioners, many of whom have real experience of running their own businesses as well as having the specialist ability to manage crises in other businesses, are precisely aligned with the rescue culture.

However, it is the directors, whose poor stewardship of shareholders’ interests and creditors’ money leads to insolvency who are actually best placed to prevent the destruction of viable businesses if they take earlier advice for a business recovery professional. Stop the animals getting sick and don’t shoot the vet!