Critical Conversations: Law & Accounting

Regulations pose problems for many South Florida companies

As originally published in the South Florida Business Journal on September 30, 2011

By Kevin Gale

Photo by Susan R. MillerL-R: Peter T. Pruitt Jr., Jeffrey Kramer, Michael I. Goldberg and Martin R. Press discuss the issues firms have with regulators.

Talk about regulations in Washington may seem like political theater to many observers, but South Florida attorneys and CPAs describe a real-world quagmire for clients.

This installment of Critical Conversations looked at key issues in law and accounting, including the wave of fraud in the region and the state of the economy.

The following transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Q: Can you give us your perspective on the state of the economy as to how it relates to your practice area?

A: Martin R. Press, shareholder Gunster: A lot of my practice is federal tax related, and with the economy faltering – and the increasing debt of the U.S. government – the government is in a collection mode and an enforcement mode, both domestically and abroad.

The practice area I have has never been more active. Something that especially affects South Florida is people with foreign bank accounts and foreign trade. The IRS has set up all sorts of special programs and personnel to deal with that. There have been greater examinations of what are called “fat cats” with very, very extensive exams.

As far as the economy is concerned, we have three states that are in the worst shape: Nevada, Arizona and Florida.

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