However, those claims were rubbished today with a source from the firm claiming 71 tradesman and nine administrative staff were informed of their redundancy on Tuesday — making the total job loss 80, not 48.

The source, who does not wish to be named, said, “It came as a real blow to be told about the redundancies, but when you pick up the local newspaper and see it’s being claimed 48 jobs have been made redundant, it really does sicken you.”

He said, “A few people are being kept on to tie up odds and ends, but that figure is nowhere near the 32 mark, the sums don’t add up and the staff staying on have already been told they will be leaving.”

A spokeswoman for Ernst & Young admitted the gaffe today, confirming receivers had in fact miscalculated the figures for Dundee.

She said, “The actual number of employees being made redundant in Dundee is 77.

“We would like to apologise for this mistake.

“In the rush to answer as many questions as possible there has been a miscalculation.”

The spokeswoman said the receivers had only been given access to the company’s headquarters on Tuesday.

Despite its strong performance it now appears the entire Dundee workforce has fallen foul of a black hole in the company’s finances at its four other offices in Scotland and one in the north of England.

On Tuesday the receivers said DH Morris, founded in Dundee 80 years ago, had not known exactly how big its trading deficit had been.

They claimed a comprehensive review of contracts across the group found the losses were much larger than thought, running into “several millions”.

In a statement, Colin Dempster said, “This in turn has led to a substantial increase in the business’ funding requirement that the firm has been unable to meet.

“It is unfortunate we have had to make these job cuts to a long-established business but the company has been trading at a loss that cannot be sustained.”

DH Morris Group, now with its headquarters in Cumbernauld, was a long-established electrical contracting business that had been operating in Scotland since 1926.

In recent years, the group also started to provide mechanical services in an effort to offer a complete package to their main contractors.

Just over two years ago, the company claimed to be in a healthy condition after winning more than £18 million of contracts.

Late yesterday it was announced one of the group’s businesses has been transferred to new ownership, protecting the jobs of 46 staff in Cumbernauld.

The group’s petrol station refurbishment business, which trades as DRB Maintenance, has been taken on by Emtec Building Services Limited. The business is based in Cumbernauld but employs a team of staff located around the UK.