By a fundamental theorem of Brauer every irreducible character of a finite group G can be written in the field Q(εm) of mth roots of unity where m is the exponent of G. Is it always possible to find a matrix representation over its ring Z[εm] of integers? In the present paper it is shown that this holds true provided it is valid for the quasisimple groups. The reduction to such groups relies on a useful extension theorem for integral representations. Iwasawa theory on class groups of cyclotomic fields gives evidence that the answer is at least affirmative when the exponent is replaced by the order, and provides for a general qualitative result.
