Nationwide Accident Repairs Services, a UK car repair firm, has agreed a £30,000 out-of-court settlement with the Business Software Alliance (BSA) over its use of unlicensed software.

At the time that Nationwide Accident was under BSA investigation it was in the final stages of undertaking a software audit but had not completed the necessary purchases to ensure compliance, the BSA said.

The software watchdog added that the company had been quick to realise its responsibility and co-operated fully with the investigation.

The case illustrates the importance and urgency of conducting audits to ensure software compliance, said the BSA, which received the tip-off about Nationwide Accident via its website.

"If a company is struggling to ensure software compliance we would strongly advise them to come to the BSA for help," said Siobhan Carroll, regional manager of Northern Europe at the BSA.

"If a company puts its hands up to the BSA and admits there are problems with their licences or with their software then they are effectively protecting themselves from blame and they are protecting themselves from us investigating their software licensing at a later date."

A range of guides to software licensing and software management are available for download from the BSA's website.