Highlights of AICPA spring Council meeting.

Following are some of the more significant events and developments at the AICPA's governing Council meeting Apr. 26-28:

* The Council meeting was held in Washington, D.C., giving CPAs, state CPA societies and AICPA leadership an opportunity to visit with federal legislators to discuss issues important to the profession, business and the public. AICPA Federal Key Persons and many Council members met with their districts' members of Congress. The conversations focused on the AICPA's, state CPA societies' and CPAs' efforts to help businesses, individuals and communities navigate through the current economic crisis; the AICPA's recommendations for financial regulatory reform; continued pursuit of a ban on tax strategy patents; and mobile workforce legislation that would impose a uniform national standard on nonresident state taxation for short-term workers. Watch this video of AICPA President and CEO Barry Melancon to hear more on these Council activities.

* An exciting and impressive group of speakers from the media and politicians from both sides of the aisle discussed the current regulatory landscape, the new Obama administration's programs and policies and the nation's economic challenges during recession. Council members and others in attendance heard from David Gergen, Editor-at-Large, U.S. News & World Report; Pat Buchanan, columnist and MSNBC political analyst; Donna Brazile, CNN political contributor and ABC political consultant; Representative Eric Cantor (R-VA), Minority Whip of the House of Representatives; Representative Lynn Jenkins, CPA (R-KS), member of...