SOC 2 Type II certified. IRS §7216 compliant.
Dedicated staff from $18,000–$30,000/year, all-inclusive. Your first 40 hours are free.
Florida CPA firms are not only competing with other accounting firms for talent. They are competing with the hedge funds and private equity firms that moved to Miami.
In South Florida, the wave of finance firms that relocated to Miami and Palm Beach, including Citadel, Blackstone, and Apollo, now bids for the same accounting and finance professionals your firm needs.
In Orlando and Central Florida, the tourism economy anchored by Walt Disney World and Universal's new Epic Universe park pulls from the regional labor pool year round.
Around Tampa Bay and along the Space Coast, financial services and aerospace employers add two more competing markets.
When firms do hire across these markets, the true cost runs well above the offer:
Federal employer payroll taxes, benefits, and Florida reemployment tax add substantially on top of base salary
Office overhead in Miami and South Florida has climbed sharply with the corporate migration
Accounting staff turnover is high in Florida's fast-growing metros: one departure resets the recruiting timeline and the full cost
Florida CPA firms that move to outsourced accounting with Acculink reduce staffing costs by 60 to 70 percent, without giving up quality, turnaround times, or data security. Our team of 300+ professionals, including CPAs, Enrolled Agents, Chartered Accountants, and Big-4 alumni, integrates into your existing workflow and operates on your schedule.
The most common way Florida CPA firms work with Acculink is the dedicated staffing model. You hire a professional who works exclusively for your firm, on your schedule, under your direct supervision. This is not a shared service or an outsourced task queue. It is your person, doing your firm's work.
Florida CPA firms hire through Acculink for:
You meet the professional before the engagement starts, set the tasks, and review the output. Two engagement models are available: a dedicated full-time hire (one professional working exclusively for your firm) and a managed team for practices that need broader coverage across multiple roles.
Build a dedicated offshore team matched to your firm's work, from entry-level support to senior oversight.
Daily transaction entry, reconciliations, and ledger upkeep.
Accounts receivable, payable, and billing management.
General ledger, month-end close, and financial statements.
Individual, corporate, and pass-through return preparation.
End-to-end payroll, reemployment tax filings, and quarterly deposits.
Workpapers and documentation for reviews and compilations.
Cash flow forecasting, budgeting, and management reporting.
From daily bookkeeping to Florida-specific tax workpapers, your dedicated team works across the platforms your clients already use.
Florida forms handled
Florida Industries
Florida's economy is built on real estate, tourism, finance, and international trade, and each generates demanding accounting work. Your Acculink team is built to handle it.
Real estate drives Florida, and construction alone accounts for roughly 5.7% of the state's economy. CPA firms serving developers, investors, and construction clients work through percentage-of-completion accounting, documentary stamp tax, 1031 exchange tracking, and homestead and Save Our Homes calculations on a constant basis. Your team handles the schedule preparation your licensed CPAs review.
Florida drew a record 143 million visitors in 2024, and the hotels, restaurants, and attractions that serve them, from Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando to independent operators, generate high-volume sales tax, tourist development tax, and seasonal payroll work. Your Acculink team supports the recurring compliance behind it.
The migration of hedge funds, private equity firms, and family offices to Miami and Palm Beach has concentrated complex investment partnerships and high-net-worth individuals in South Florida. CPA firms serving this market work through partnership accounting, investment income schedules, and multistate returns every season.
Miami is the financial gateway to Latin America, and the foreign investment that flows through it brings cross-border accounting work: FIRPTA withholding on foreign sellers of US real estate, inbound entity structuring, and foreign reporting. Your team handles the workpaper preparation so your licensed staff can focus on review.
AdventHealth, HCA Florida Healthcare, and Baptist Health South Florida anchor a large healthcare economy of physician groups, ambulatory centers, and ancillary service companies. CPA firms serving healthcare clients work through revenue recognition, cost reporting, and multi-entity payroll.
A generic offshore team is not the same as one that has done your clients' work before. Acculink's dedicated professionals are matched to your firm based on your clients' specific industries.
The salary figure is only part of the story. Here is how the true cost of a Florida hire compares to a dedicated Acculink team.
For a Miami, Orlando, or Tampa firm carrying two or three accounting positions, the cost comparison between in-house and offshore is the most important number in the practice.
| In-House Hire (Florida) | Acculink Offshore | |
|---|---|---|
| Annual salary, staff accountant (Florida metro) | $62,000–$80,000 | $18,000–$30,000 |
| Employer payroll taxes and benefits | $12,000–$17,000 | None |
| Office overhead (Miami / South Florida) | $6,000–$12,000 per year | None |
| Recruiting and placement fees | $8,000–$15,000 | None |
| Training | $2,000–$5,000 | Included |
| Time to productive | 3–5 months | 2–3 weeks |
| SOC 2 Type II coverage | Firm's responsibility | Included |
| Turnover risk | High | Low |
Florida firms carrying two staff accountants at metro-area rates typically save $120,000 to $155,000 per year by moving to the Acculink model. The savings widen further when recruiting and turnover costs are included.
Florida has no state income tax, which is exactly why so many businesses and high earners move here. No income tax does not mean no complexity. The work shifts to sales tax, real estate transfer taxes, and the multistate issues that relocation creates. Your Acculink team is built for all three.
Florida, at a glance
County surtax rates vary by county and change annually — confirm before each filing season.
Florida's state sales and use tax is 6%, and most counties add a discretionary surtax between 0.5% and 1.5% that applies to the first $5,000 of a single sale. The surtax varies by county, and some impose none, so a business operating across county lines has to apply the correct rate in each location. One recent change your clients will ask about: effective October 1, 2025, House Bill 7031 repealed Florida's sales tax on commercial real property leases, the last such tax in the country and a filing CPA firms had tracked for decades. Your Acculink team prepares DR-15 sales and use tax returns and keeps current on county surtax rates on every engagement.
Florida runs on real estate, and nearly every transaction carries documentary stamp tax. Deeds are taxed at $0.70 per $100 of consideration statewide, except in Miami-Dade County, where the rate is $0.60 per $100 plus a $0.45 surtax that applies to everything other than single-family homes. Promissory notes and mortgages are taxed at $0.35 per $100. For clients holding Florida homestead property, the homestead exemption reduces taxable value by up to $50,000, and the Save Our Homes cap limits annual assessment increases to 3% or the change in CPI, whichever is lower. For CPA firms serving real estate developers, investors, and 1031 exchange clients, these are recurring workpaper items, and your Acculink team handles them under your direction.
Florida's most important tax feature is the one it does not have, and it creates work rather than removing it. No state income tax and no estate or inheritance tax draw businesses and high earners from New York, New Jersey, California, and Illinois every year. A client who relocates still has a part-year or nonresident return in the state they left, a Florida residency position to establish and defend, and often an aggressive departure-state audit to survive. Add the foreign investment flowing through Miami, where FIRPTA withholding applies to foreign sellers of US real estate, and the multistate and cross-border workload for a Florida CPA firm is substantial. Your Acculink team supports the return preparation and the workpapers behind it.
Florida law requires businesses that hold personal information of Florida residents to protect it, and it reaches the service providers they use. Acculink is built to operate inside those rules.
Section 7216 requires a CPA firm to obtain written client consent before sharing tax return information with a third party, including offshore preparers. Acculink structures every engagement so your offshore professional operates as a direct staff extension under your supervision. Your firm retains full responsibility for client data and all output review.
The Florida Information Protection Act (Florida Statutes 501.171) requires any business that holds personal information of Florida residents to take reasonable measures to protect it and to dispose of it securely. If a breach occurs, the business must notify affected individuals within 30 days, and must notify the Florida Department of Legal Affairs when 500 or more residents are affected. The law reaches outsourcing directly: a third-party agent that maintains personal information for a business must notify that business within 10 days of discovering a breach. An offshore provider handling your clients' data is exactly the kind of third-party agent the statute contemplates, which is why Acculink's SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001:2013 certifications and contractual data protection terms matter. They give your firm documented assurance that the provider meets the reasonable-security standard FIPA expects.
The FTC Safeguards Rule (16 CFR Part 314), updated in 2023, requires CPA firms and tax preparers to maintain a written information security program covering specific technical, administrative, and physical safeguards. Acculink's certified security environment supports your firm's third-party service provider documentation requirements under the Safeguards Rule.
Under Florida Statutes Chapter 473, only a licensed CPA or CPA firm may practice public accounting, which centers on the attest function: audits, reviews, and opinions on financial statements. The statute expressly permits non-licensed staff to perform other accounting work, including the preparation of tax returns and financial statements without an opinion. Acculink professionals handle that production work under the supervision of your licensed CPAs, who retain responsibility for the engagement and sign off on all output.
| Certification | What It Covers |
|---|---|
| SOC 2 Type II | Security, availability, and confidentiality controls, independently audited over time |
| ISO 27001:2013 | Information security management system, independently certified |
| IRS §7216 | Structured compliance for tax return data handling |
| GDPR | Data handling standards for international client data |
Most Florida CPA firms are fully operational within a few weeks. The steps below describe onboarding for the dedicated staffing model.
You describe your firm's needs: role, software platforms, practice areas, and client industries. Acculink identifies candidates from its bench of 300+ professionals. You review profiles and meet candidates before making any commitment.
You select your professional and confirm the engagement terms: start date, hours, rate, and scope. No setup fee. No lock-in contract.
Your Acculink professional receives access to your software and workflow documentation. The first two to three weeks are a supervised ramp-up period. Most professionals reach full productivity within 30 days.
Your Acculink team member works on your schedule, in your systems, under your direct supervision. You set the work. You review the output. You own the client relationship.
US GAAP, IRS requirements, and Florida-specific work including sales and use tax, documentary stamp tax, tangible personal property returns, and the multistate issues that come with Florida's relocating client base.
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001:2013 certifications with contractual safeguards that support your firm's obligations under the Florida Information Protection Act.
Dedicated full-time staff or a managed team, depending on your firm's volume and growth stage.
Compared to in-house accounting staff at Florida market rates.
Your Acculink professional reports to you, not to a project manager or queue system.
No setup fee, and no long-term lock-in.
CPAs, Enrolled Agents, Chartered Accountants, and Big-4 alumni.
Florida's growth is pulling accounting talent in every direction, from the finance firms in Miami to the tourism economy in Orlando. Acculink gives your firm experienced, certified accounting staff at 60 to 70 percent below what an in-house hire in a Florida metro would cost.
