There were 184 Scottish company insolvencies in the second quarter of 2013, a 29% rise from the previous quarter's 156, according to latest figures from the Accountant in Bankruptcy.

But failures were 56% down on the record figure recorded in the second quarter of 2012.

Insolvency appointments collated by KPMG show a similar rise, from 159 to 193.

Practitioners were quick to note that the rise came against the background of a fall-off in activity by HMRC.

Bryan Jackson at BDO said: "Given that HMRC is a major initiator of corporate insolvency proceedings, this would tend to indicate that, despite this increase in failures, the numbers could have been much higher."

Blair Nimmo at KPMG said HMRC appointments had picked up in the second quarter but were much lower than in previous years. He went on: "We are starting to see a much more positive trend emerge with the business failure rate in Scotland clearly starting to slow.

"Year-on-year we are seeing a significant slowdown in the number of insolvencies, for both larger and smaller businesses."

Fiona McKerrell, corporate restructuring partner at law firm HBJ Gateley, said: "There's still no great sign of a resurgent economy, which could in fact lead to a spike in insolvencies as weaker entities are weeded out, but these figures would suggest the bulk of corporate insolvencies are behind us – for now at least."

Personal insolvencies rose by 14.7%, swelled by a 25% rise in protected trust deeds, despite the growing use of the Debt Arrangement Scheme.