Auditing Practices Committee Archive

Archive of the Auditing Practices Committee, covering its activities in the 1970s and 1980s in promoting standards for UK auditors.

This archive consists of the surviving files of the APC , numbering some 403 files, 119 of which are in microfilm format. The papers of the APC have been arranged into classes, which have been informed by the original organisation of the archive. These classes are as follows: the APC 12- subject files; the minutes files; files relating to fraud and illegal acts; the international issues files; and miscellaneous files. The arrangement of the archive is discussed in more detail in the Handbook to the archive list, and descriptions of class groupings are explained within the archive list itself.

The Auditing Practices Committee [APC] was intended to provide guidance for auditing practice, and also to set some auditing standards, in a similar way to the Accounting Standards Committee [ASC] whose constitution the APC emulated.

Official statements record the APC as being established in March 1976, as a committee of the Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies [CCAB], but this committee grew out of an earlier Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales [ICAEW] technical committee, which, unlike the other accountancy bodies auditing committees, disbanded on the arrival of the CCAB APC. [The CCAB APC inherited some of the ICAEW committee's working parties and the archive includes papers from this first ICAEW-governed committee]. Although a committee of the CCAB, the APC was not governed by all of the CCAB member bodies. Originally the governing bodies of the APC consisted of: the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales [ICAEW]; the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland [ICAS]; the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland [ICAI]; and the Association of Certified Accountants [ACA, later to become the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants-CACA]. The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy [CIPFA] and the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants [ICMA, later to become the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants-CIMA] were associated bodies, entitled to send observers to APC meetings, and to comment on issues pertaining to them, but without the entitlement to vote. In 1982 CIPFA became a governing body, and in 1986 with the incorporation of CCAB Ltd., the signatures of the CCAB Board of Directors were required [in addition to the agreement of the councils of the governing bodies] for the publication of auditing standards and guidelines.

In 1991 the Auditing Practices Committee was reconstituted as the Auditing Practices Board (APB), and in 2004 the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) took over responsibility for the setting of auditing standards through the APB which became a subsidiary board of the FRC. .

The archive is arranged into two major series:

• APC/1 - APC 12, Subject files
• APC/2 - APC Minutes and Agendas

The archive is stored offsite. A minimum notice period of three working days is required for access to any part of the collection; please contact Special Collections Reader Services for further details (uml.special-collections@manchester.ac.uk).

Access conditions apply to this collection, and a number of items are currently closed to public inspection. The restricted items are indicated in the catalogue.

The collection includes material which is subject to the Data Protection Act 2018. The University of Manchester Library (UML) holds the right to process personal data for archiving and research purposes according to the provisions of the Act. In accordance with the DPA, UML has made every attempt to ensure that all personal and sensitive personal data has been processed fairly, lawfully and accurately. Users of the archive are expected to comply with the Data Protection Act 2018, and will be required to sign a form acknowledging that they will abide by the requirements of the Act in any further processing of the material by themselves.

The APC archive was deposited on permanent loan by the CCAB at the Library on 15 September 1997.

Includes microfilms (APC/2), which require microfilm reader for use.

Photocopies and photographic copies of material in the archive can be supplied for private study purposes only, depending on the condition of the documents.

A number of items within the archive remain within copyright under the terms of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988; it is the responsibility of users to obtain the copyright holder's permission for reproduction of copyright material for purposes other than research or private study.

Prior written permission must be obtained from the Library for publication or reproduction of any material within the archive. Please contact the Head of Special Collections, John Rylands Library, 150 Deansgate, Manchester, M3 3EH.

The APC archive was transferred to the Centre for Empirical Research in Accounting and Finance of the Department of Accounting and Finance, University of Manchester by the Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies in the 1990s. It was later transferred to the JRUL in order to provide continuing access to the collection.

Further accruals possible.

UML also has custody of the Accounting Standards Committee archive (ASC), which undertook similar work in the area of accounting standards in the same period.