Over $680k owed
A HIGH-profile accountancy firm, part of a group that has operated on the Gold Coast for 45 years, has gone into liquidation with debts of more than half a million dollars after the marriage breakup of two of the group’s directors.
Koschel Investments, which had traded chiefly at Runaway Bay as KSM Group, was wound up over a legal debt of $10,881 and placed into liquidation in March.
The firm was part of a group of family companies run by Robert Koschel and his ex-wife Sandra.
Liquidator Matt Bookless of SV Partners said the Australian Taxation Office was owed $160,000 of Koschel Investments’ unsecured debt which totalled $481,000.
A further $203,000 is owed in staff superannuation and other entitlements – all of which Mr Bookless said was unlikely to be recovered.
Ms Koschel, 42, an accountant and business adviser, was the sole director of Koschel Group when it failed.
In her report into the company’s affairs, lodged with ASIC in April, Ms Koschel could not say how much cash the firm had because she “no longer had access” to its bank account and left more than 18 question marks in spaces allowed for details of secured and unsecured creditors.
Mr Bookless said his investigations had revealed the company had been struggling for some time before his appointment as liquidator.
“There are personal and business factors at play and I’d say the personal factors were the larger factor in the company’s demise,” he said.
Ms Koschel said KSM Group had collapsed because the couple were still separating their property.
“Unfortunately, my business and his were all intertwined,” she told The Gold Coast Bulletin. Robert Koschel was also contacted by the Bulletin for comment.
Mr Koschel, 50, is operating a new accountancy business at Hope Island named Sedley Koschel Financial Group. Company records show his ex-wife is a director and secretary of a company with the same name.
Ms Koschel is also director of Sunlife Finance, which listed its office at KSM Group’s former base, which has been repossessed by the landlord.
Sunlife’s website was taken down after the Bulletin began making inquiries on Wednesday.
Mr Bookless said his investigation had been complicated by the structures of the group and affected by a legal battle over who owned the company’s client list.
“Koschel Investments was one company among the group, so ownership of the client list has been of contention – we haven’t been able to ascertain that ownership,” he said. “I don’t expect there to be any dividend to unsecured creditors and I think the prospect of a dividend to the priority creditors is remote.
“The legal issues surrounding the client list were part of a wider legal proceeding between Sandra and Robert Koschel.”