Actions such as taking money out of the business, or transferring assets at less than their value, may constitute fraud. You could face criminal charges.
In addition, transfers of the company’s assets shortly before the onset of insolvency may constitute a preference or undervalue transaction and be overturned by the court (see 7).
(An undervalue transaction is either a gift or a transaction by which the value received by the company is worth less than the value it gives — in other words, it sells its assets cheaply. Undervalue transactions can be overturned in the same way as preferences.)
Even legitimate transactions which you would have carried out in the normal course of business may seem questionable if you subsequently become insolvent. Take advice from a specialist insolvency practitioner, and if appropriate discuss what you are doing with your creditors.