An examiner has been appointed to a company employing 195 people in Dublin and Galway.
Neylon Maintenance Services Ltd provides cleaning services to private hospitals and State bodies and the High Court accepted today it had a reasonable prospect of survival if certain conditions were met.
The directors of the company claimed financial mismanagement, including false invoicing and falsification of accounts, by its financial director, accountant Padraic Faherty, had resulted in or exacerbated a decline in profitability from 2009 and led to the company incurring a Revenue debt of almost €1 million.
The directors said the mismanagement came to their attention as a result of issues raised with them in 2010 by Allied Irish Banks Commercial Services.
The petition for examinership arose from the company being insolvent due to the "misbehaviour" of Mr Faherty, a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, Mr Justice Peter Kelly noted.
Mr Faherty had been dismissed following a failure to live up to his obligations.
After hearing the company was now trading profitably and that interim examiner Neil Hughes was confident of putting together a survival scheme, the judge said he was satisfied to confirm Mr Hughes as examiner.
On a going concern basis, there was a deficiency of assets over liabilities of €816,569 which would increase to some €1.7 million on a winding up, he noted.
The firm, with branches in Dublin and Loughrea, Co Galway, is the largest Irish-owned supplier of cleaning and maintenance services to the private hospital sectors and has several State clients, including the Revenue.
Examinership would be beneficial for most creditors, none opposed the petition, the Revenue was neutral, and he was satisfied examinership was appropriate especially from the point of view of the employees, the judge said.
Earlier, Declan Murphy, for the company, said the Revenue liability of almost €1 million related to the period 2008 to 2010 but the company was now trading profitably and taxes were being paid.
The "unfortunate events" experienced stemmed from Mr Faherty's period as the company's accountant but the directors had shown a willingness to deal with the issues raised, he said.