Interview: Brian Riemer, CEO

( ) Small businesses also had to navigate the new PPP loan system and align the benefits with current tax incentives. The Biden administration recently extended the deadline for PPP loan funding so that more small businesses can take advantage of the incentives. This allows providers to process applications one month after the deadline. The deadline was called for by industry professionals after a number of transactions were flagged in automated checks, meaning there was the potential for some businesses to miss out on funding. In the last year, accounting and financial services firms have not only acted as advisers to clients, but also advocates. Accounting firms say that clients are not only focusing on projections for the coming year, but also reflecting on 2020 to evaluate potential write-offs and losses.

Broward County is a diverse business community. The county is home to headquarters of major global corporations, especially for Latin American companies. Microsoft’s Latin American headquarters is located in Florida, while those of DHL Express are in Plantation. The largest 19 Latin American headquarters register global sales of $460 billion and employ over 1.6 million people. The complexities that come from international business and international trade require world-class accounting firms. Not only this, but Broward County is home to many high-networth individuals, especially given the pandemicdriven population influx from the Northeast over the last year. Wealth and asset managers have experienced growing demand for their services, with COVIDrelated asset evaluation the main driver.

One of Florida’s major selling points is also a selling point for accountants in the state. The state provides one of the country’s lowest tax rates and generous business incentives, but to take advantage of the full advantages available to them, businesses need to enlist a savvy accountant. In the Broward County area, at least three different incentives are available related to tax credits and capital gains for targeted industries. On top of this, infrastructure development funds, urban incentives and utility incentives are also available. The Small Business Admistration (SBA) offers loan programs to help small businesses, below market-rate loans are accessible and industrial revenue bonds are all on the table. The South Florida Regional Planning Council also offers a revolving loan fund. This is in addition to corporate and excise tax-related benefits.

COVID has undoubtedly driven new accounting and wealth management trends but some were already evolving pre-pandemic. For several years, Brian Riemer

CEO Riemer Insurance Group, Inc.

What were some of the factors behind the price hardening in the commercial insurance industry?

One thing is reinsurance consolidation. Reinsurance companies have consolidated to fewer players on a global scale. If a catastrophe takes place in Australia, it can impact rates across the world because that carrier has a global risk matrix as a result of that consolidation. There has also been decreased capacity in the marketplace. Second, the natural disasters that have taken place over the last year: all the fires in California, the mudslides in Colorado, the winter storm that took place in Texas and across the Southeast, Hurricane Dorian, to name a few. These natural disasters have resulted in rate increases. Third, social inflation. That’s more specific to South Florida’s market, where there are an increasing number of lawsuits being brought against insurance companies that are forced to defend against that. They’re incurring increased costs, legal and administrative fees, processing and handling claims and defending them. It’s a much more litigious market than the Midwest, for example.

How has the cyber insurance market evolved in the wake of remote work?

We see at least one cyber insurance claim per month from our customers. Sometimes more than that. The most common risk is a claim called social engineering. It’s essentially related to wire transfer fraud. When someone pretends to be someone else and they convince you as a CFO or CEO to send money from your bank account to another bank account. These hackers are extremely sophisticated to the point where they can read and sound like someone at your o ce telling you to do that. We have had clients who have decided to self-insure for that as they have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars because of it. The education process and the technology has now caught up to the point where in the event of a major hack, they could shift gears quickly. For instance, if someone were to hack into our systems, everything is in the cloud and even if we were down for a few hours, we could pivot directly to what is in the cloud and not miss a beat.