Malin Bergquist's Finnecy Elected to Represent Pennsylvania on Prestigious Council of the American Institute of CPAs

ERIE, PA, May 14, 2010 - CPA William Finnecy, a partner with the firm in Erie, has been elected to the Council of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants

(AICPA), as representative of the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA). Among other responsibilities, Finnecy will help this primary strategic decision-making body -- governing the nation's 350,000 CPAs -- in making recommendations to Congress on measures to enhance U.S. financial reporting and taxation systems.

Nominated to this post by the PICPA, Finnecy is a past PICPA state nominations chair and past president of the Erie Chapter of PICPA.

With approximately 263 members from every state and U.S. territory, the council has the authority to establish AICPA policies and procedures and to enact resolutions binding upon the institute's board of directors, officers, committees and staff. Finnecy and other council members are charged with broadening interest in the profession and AICPA by seeking opportunities to explain their policies and services to the public.

Among the issues council is expected to weigh this year are how aggressively to press the U.S. accounting profession to adopt self-contained standalone financial reporting standards for private companies and non-profit organizations, which might include international financial reporting standards currently being considered by public companies and small to medium size entities. Other issues may include advances in client service such as cloud-based technology, on-demand accounting and tax reform alternatives for the 21st century.

Finnecy is one of a dozen partners with Malin Bergquist and its predecessor firms to have served as president of the PICPA Erie Chapter. Among them is Ryan Brosius, the past year's chapter president, and Finnecy's father, the late David Finnecy (1975-1976).