Adding Value: The Evolution of the Accounting Industry in Miami-Dade

Miami-Dade is a center of international business. How does this impact the local accounting industry?

International clients comprise a large section of our practice. We assist foreigners in immigration planning – for instance, advising them on how to structure their real estate investments. An enormous amount of planning is needed to minimize U.S. taxes, and it is crucial that much of this is done before the client moves to South Florida. It’s also important to understand what tax treaties govern the relationship between a client’s home country and the U.S. Tax treaties can prevent duplicate taxation on an individual’s income, and the U.S. has tax treaties with most European countries and virtually no countries in Latin America.

We also help foreigners with compliance. One key regulation is the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which requires foreign entities operating in the U.S. to register with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to identify the entities’ shareholders. FATCA is a way for the U.S. to obtain information on its citizens and residents who may be evading taxes on income in foreign bank accounts. As part of FATCA, the U.S. has been entering into intergovernmental agreements, where there is a reciprocal reporting agreement between the U.S. and foreign governments who are similarly seeking to gain knowledge on tax-evaders.

What are the growth drivers for the accounting industry in Miami-Dade County?

We have seen increased business from the financial and technology sectors, the latter of which is relatively emerging. Although there have been tech firms in Mi¬ami-Dade for decades, today what we are seeing is the growing presence of more sophisticated technology players as well as start-ups, and the sector is gaining a lot of traction. We are also seeing – in a very short time – a true migration of hedge funds, investment funds, broker-dealers, and private equity firms. We have over 100 employees dedicated to fund administration – supporting funds with services such as accounting and reporting, tax and regulatory compliance, middle and back office, fund reconciliation and independent verification of investments among others.

How is the accounting profession evolving in an increasingly globalized and digitized world?

Technology has standardized many aspects of compliance. To remain competitive, CPAs have had to diver¬sify their business. A large portion of revenue mix in the industry – at least among the larger players – now comes from consulting instead of the traditional au¬diting, accounting and tax. Our strategy is to provide more value-added services, such as regulatory compliance, IT security consulting, and litigation consulting, to support the different industries that we serve.