Companies (Audit, Investigations and Community Enterprise) Act 2004^[1]

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to amend the law relating to company auditors and accounts, to the provision that may be made in respect of certain liabilities incurred by a company’s officers, and to company investigations; to make provision for community interest companies; and for connected purposes.
Citation	2004 c 27
Territorial extent	England and Wales and Scotland, except that sections 14 and 15(1)(b) and (3) and (7) and 17 and 65 to 67 also extend to Northern Ireland and any amendment made by this Act has the same extent as the provision to which it relates.[2]
Dates
Royal assent	28 October 2004
Text of statute as originally enacted
Revised text of statute as amended

The Companies (Audit, Investigations and Community Enterprise) Act 2004 (c 27) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Background

The following consultation documents and reports are precursors of this Act:^[3]

• The "Final Report of the Co-ordinating Group on Audit and Accounting Issues" to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, published in January 2003
• "Review of the Regulatory Regime of the Accountancy Profession: Legislative Proposals", published in March 2003, and the "Report on the public consultation and the Government's conclusions", published in February 2004
• The consultation document "Company Investigations: Powers for the 21st Century" published in October 2001
• The consultation document "Enterprise for Communities: proposals for a Community Interest Company", published in March 2003, and the "Report on the public consultation and the Government's intentions", published in October 2003
• The consultation document "Director and Auditor Liability" published in December 2003

Part 2 – Community interest companies

This Part introduces community interest companies, and the officer known as the Regulator of Community Interest Companies.

Part 3 – Supplementary

Section 65 – Commencement etc

The Companies (Audit, Investigations and Community Enterprise) Act 2004 (Commencement) and Companies Act 1989 (Commencement No 18) Order 2004 (S.I. 2004/3322 (C. 154)) was made under this section.