Technical Releases and representations

Throughout its existence ICAEW has provided guidance to members on issues of importance and given the considered response of the Institute on consultation papers, legislation and exposure drafts from government, accounting standard setters and a variety of professional bodies.

At first this material was published as memoranda which were then reproduced in publications such as The Accountant and The Accountant Tax Supplement. From 1972 this material was published in a numbered series and given the label of Technical Releases.

The first Technical Release issued by ICAEW was TR 101 ‘Memorandum on behalf of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland regarding the rights and duties of auditors and changes in their appointment’ on 26 January 1972.

Technical Releases have also been issued on behalf of the Accountants Joint Parliamentary Committee (AJPC) and Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies (CCAB).

Over the years, ICAEW's Technical Releases have been published across a number of different series. The scope of the term has also been subject to change: since 1999 the Institute has taken steps to separate Technical Releases (which provide guidance) from representations (responses to consultation documents).

Representations are publications issued by ICAEW and its faculties in response to policymakers, standard setters and regulators, explaining how changes to policy and legislation will impact day-to-day practice.

Until 1999, all representations were issued as Technical Releases along with guidance in their respective series. Beginning in that year, representations from the Tax Faculty were published in a dedicated TAX REP series.

Later, in October 2005, representations that would previously have been published in the TECH series (covering business law, corporate governance, financial reporting, accountancy markets and ethics, SME issues and international affairs) began to be published in a separate ICAEW REP series.

The ICAEW REP series continues to this day, with tax representations having been incorporated into this series since 2016.

Further information on ICAEW's representations can be found on the consultations and representations page.

Technical Releases were issued in a single numerical sequence until 1992. Since then, Technical Releases and representations have been split into a number of named series. These publications are currently issued in a numerical sequence within a year; for example, AUDIT 2/03 was the second Technical Release in the AUDIT series in 2003. 

The simplified table below shows the main sequences and named series from 1972 to date:

Having originally been available by way of a subscription service, Technical Releases have been published on the ICAEW website since the mid-to-late 1990s. New Technical Releases and representations, as well as some historical ones, are published in full text on the ICAEW website and can be downloaded free of charge. The exact coverage varies from series-to-series.

Single copies of any historical Technical Releases or representations not available to download from the website may be ordered from the ICAEW Library & Information Service. The Library acts as the archive for ICAEW publications. As part of this archive, we maintain a complete collection of Technical Releases from 1972 onwards and all representations published in the TAX REP and ICAEW REP series.

To request copies, contact us by telephone on +44 (0)20 7920 8620 or email library@icaew.com. Please give a contact telephone number in your email so we can call you back. Our standard document supply charges apply when ordering Technical Releases.

Some Technical Releases have also been reproduced in the Auditing and Reporting and Accounting Standards volumes published by Croner-i (look for the sections headed ‘ICAEW Accounting Recommendations’ and ‘ICAEW Guidance on Auditing and Reporting’ in the respective volumes).

Technical Releases and representations have been issued by faculties and groups over the years under different series titles and numbering sequences. Use the links below to access timelines by topic and browse each series.

• Auditing
• Business and company law
• Corporate finance
• Corporate reporting
• Financial services
• Insolvency
• Information Technology
• Taxation
• Technical Releases issued for the AJPC/CCAB

To search and browse the full range of ICAEW Technical Releases and representations, please use the Library catalogue. You may find it helpful to use the advanced search features, for example to limit your search to publications issued in a particular series. For more guidance, please see our page of tips on searching the Library catalogue.