Barry Gould, Partner in Charge – South Florida, EisnerAmper

In an interview with Invest:, Barry Gould, partner in charge for South Florida at business advisory firm EisnerAmper, discussed its integrated service model, South Florida’s continued growth, and the importance of pairing specialized expertise with consistent standards. “The size of the client does not change the standard; it may just mean a bigger team,” Gould said.

How is EisnerAmper positioning itself to capitalize on South Florida’s rapid economic growth and increasing complexity across industries?

We continue to focus on growth across all our regions and business segments. In South Florida, where I am located, we continue to see economic growth, including many foreign investors entering the region. That trend has continued since the pandemic.

Many of those foreign investors are bringing capital into South Florida. I have recently been involved with a couple of transactions involving foreign investors bringing in significant capital for real estate projects. We are also seeing new organizations open here and bringing staff to South Florida.

We have a substantial financial services practice at the firm, and we are seeing additional hedge funds and private equity firms opening in South Florida. That is one of our top service lines, and we service those clients at the highest level.

It is a combination of new organizations moving to South Florida, many from outside the U.S., along with domestic organizations and individuals moving here from other states. Citadel is a good example of a leading organization relocating from Chicago and bringing economic growth, people, and momentum to the region.

That is another testament to what South Florida is doing to attract organizations and individuals to relocate here. We help organizations and individuals with moves to South Florida, including planning for foreign investors and providing ongoing compliance work—whether audit, tax, or consulting.

How important is EisnerAmper’s integrated model in meeting the evolving needs of today’s clients?

It is highly critical. A firm like EisnerAmper offers a full suite of services. We call it a one-stop shop. Clients can come to our firm and have their tax, assurance, auditing, consulting, and advisory needs handled under one roof.

To us, it is more cohesive for the client to have their full accounting team at one firm. We collaborate across departments for all our clients, bringing different groups together to identify holistic solutions.

We offer audit, tax, consulting, technology solutions, and other dedicated consulting services across tax and technology. Clients do not have to search the marketplace for different solutions. We can bring those solutions to them from within the firm.

What trends are you seeing among high-net-worth individuals and families, particularly around wealth structuring and long-term planning?

The One Big Beautiful Bill changed how we approach estate planning with clients. In family office work, there is much day-to-day compliance. But the bigger picture is how we protect organizations, protect families, and help them plan for their future.

We are always focused on estate planning and tax planning for family office clients. We work closely with clients’ estate attorneys to help expedite the transfer of generational wealth and mitigate estate and income tax exposure.

Income tax planning and estate planning are at the top of most clients’ minds. We lead with family offices, an area where we can deliver real value through our client service.

We work with family offices that have domestic and foreign investments. That means planning and compliance are critical. Some family offices are not located in South Florida, and we may have a principal who is a U.S. citizen but lives in another country. That creates different challenges, including navigating different taxing authorities.

With the influx of high-net-worth individuals into South Florida, from Palm Beach south, we continue to see new opportunities. Many clients are also at different life stages. Some have sold their organizations and are now more focused on retirement, investments, and restructuring. We’re available to help them make that transition as smooth as possible.

How does EisnerAmper tailor solutions across such a diverse client base, from real estate and hospitality to healthcare and financial services?

Our firm has different service leaders and industry leaders. When we have a client in a specific industry, we collaborate with the industry leader and bring them into the conversation. It could be real estate, financial services, hospitality, healthcare, or another industry. We have experienced professionals in those (and many other) areas. The phone only has to ring once before one of our partners or industry professionals asks how they can help.

That is really the firm’s motto: How can we help? We tailor solutions to each client based on what is happening in each industry. Sometimes, we may bring in a new client and connect them with a specific team that is best suited to handle their account. Partners at our firm are skilled at identifying the optimal person at the firm to handle that particular client and making the necessary introductions.

That gives clients access to seasoned professionals with the latest information on developments in their industries.

How do you maintain consistent service quality while adapting to clients of different sizes and life-cycle stages?

The firm adheres to many standards, including review processes. Clients are serviced by an engagement team of partners and staff, and we maintain consistency in how we handle internal processes and procedures. Our adoption of leading-edge technology helps us greatly in this regard.

No matter the client’s industry, we strive to allocate the right levels of team members, experienced professionals, and technical support—whether the client’s firm has two staff members or 2,000.

Depending on where an organization is in its lifecycle, the team may shift. A startup organization could eventually go public. In that case, the team might move from an early-stage group to an SEC or IPO team. That is happening in South Florida right now with a client shifting from a private company to a public offering. We shifted that client to the SEC and IPO team at EisnerAmper because they are skilled in that field. We always tailor our resources to the needs of the client to maintain the highest levels of service quality. 

How is EisnerAmper approaching AI and technology within the firm?

AI is the hottest topic among accounting firms right now. We have new software on the tax side that we are testing and plan to roll out over the next few months. That will significantly improve tax compliance efficiency and effectiveness.

Many people are using AI daily, including me. Whether it is tax preparation, financial statements, reports, or other manual tasks, shifting that work to AI is where we are seeing significant benefits.

A task that might have taken 10 or 12 hours may now take one or two hours. That frees up our professionals to spend more time on high-level client consultation to better help them grow their organizations.

We are making significant, unprecedented investments into AI software, training, standards, and protocols. This is being done methodically and consciously to make sure AI use is standardized across the firm and used ethically and transparently.

We expect significant changes over the next year. Our goal is to spend less time on compliance and more time on advisory work, client conversations, and client solutions. That is where the real value is.

In Coral Gables, we have a weekly roundtable with an AI leader who shares his wisdom. Our use of AI will only grow to help minimize routine work and become an even more trusted business advisor to clients.