The recent Blue Arrow and Maxwell cases have highlighted the extremely wide-ranging powers of investigation and inquiry vested in regulatory authorities such as the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and in company liquidators by recent legislation (Companies Act 1985, Insolvency Act 1986, Criminal Justice Act 1987). In this paper, the author reviews the current state of the law on the availability of the privilege against self-incrimination and of legal professional privilege as protection for senior company officials who face such investigations or inquiries. Through the consideration of a hypothetical scenario, the paper provides some general suggestions with a view to minimising, insofar as possible, the problems, criticisms and adverse publicity for the company which may result from these investigations and inquiries