2008-07-24 23:05:04 -

- Executive CPA leaders of 81 of the top 100 accounting firms in the United States that collectively employee more than 54,000 employees are visiting Capitol Hill today to talk to members of Congress about key legislative issues of importance to the accounting profession.

"International, national and regional accounting firms outside of the Big Four have grown very significantly

in recent years. They are a critical part of the U.S. economy and they are geographically dispersed throughout the country," said AICPA President and CEO Barry C. Melancon. "We think it's important for Congress to understand their role in our capital markets and hear about the issues that are of concern to this group."

Members of the AICPA's "Major Firms Group," consisting primarily of the top 5 to 100 largest accounting firms outside the "Big Four" global accounting firms, are meeting in an AICPA forum in Washington, D.C. this week. The firms are headquartered or have offices in all 50 states and serve a diverse group of clients including public companies, small and large private businesses, partnerships and non-profit organizations and individual taxpayers. Leaders of 81 firms attended this week's meeting in Washington, D.C.

This is the first time the Major Firms Group has visited Congress to meet with lawmakers. Leaders of these firms will be holding more than 70 meetings with House and Senate members. Legislative issues they will be discussing include: equalizing the IRS's tax preparer standards and taxpayer standards, banning tax strategy patents and promoting uniform interstate income tax requirements over the current complicated and confusing patchwork of laws.

About the AICPA

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (www.aicpa.org) is the national, professional association of CPAs, with more than 350,000 CPA members in business and industry, public practice, government, education, student affiliates, and international associates. It sets ethical standards for the profession and U.S. auditing standards for audits of private companies, non-profit organizations, federal, state and local governments. It develops and grades the Uniform CPA Examination.

The AICPA maintains offices in New York, Washington, Durham, N.C., Ewing, N.J., and Lewisville, TX. Media representatives are invited to visit the AICPA Online Media Center at www.aicpa.org/mediacenter. For more information on International Financial Reporting Standards, please go to www.IFRS.com.

American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
William Roberts, 202-434-9266
Director - Media Relations
wroberts@aicpa.org
or
Shirley Twillman, 202-434-9220
Senior Manager - Media Relations
stwillman@aicpa.org