The 2024 Tax and Assurance Summit was three days full of technical sessions from highly knowledgeable speakers in the industry. Members were able to share expertise and make connections leading into the North American busy season.

The event began with Maureen Dillmore, Executive Director of the Americas, highlighting PrimeGlobal’s recent Association of the Year and Sustainability Initiative wins, welcoming new member Dugan & Lopatka, reviewing the My PrimeGlobal platform and celebrating members who have achieved Diamond level engagement status within the platform.

Keynote Speaker Erica Orange kicked off our sessions with her presentation on the future of work, highlighting how industries are not just changing, but changing in multiple different directions at once. She illustrated to members the importance of setting a vision for strategy, especially as young employees have new definitions of what it means to be successful.

Hitendra Patil then presented how AI is impacting the accounting industry, primarily by reducing the amount of data analysis that is a part of an accountant’s job through automation. Patil noted that this trend means accountants will have more time to dedicate to client relationships and consulting services, so building trust with clients is as important as ever.

The rest of the event’s sessions had members split into either tax or assurance breakouts. The tax group listened to Sue Smith’s much-anticipated tax update, while the assurance group continued discussions around technology and AI. Sessions included presentations from Sean Bailey of AssurancePrep about tech and offshoring, as well as a panel with Miguel Perez of Suralink, Dirk van Portfliet of DataSnipper, and our very own Megan Angle of member firm Porte Brown who was able to speak on how she is implementing AI into her firm’s operations. The Assurance group finished with a presentation from Nancy Reimer on professional liability and claims defense.

Day one ended with an amazing dinner cruise where members were able to chat, eat, drink, dance, and even watch the College Football National Championship as we cruised down the Ft. Lauderdale Intercoastal.

Day two continued with various tax and assurance breakout sessions. Leah Donte lead the assurance group through all that is new in accounting and assurance standards, while Josh Hallett of member firm Berkowitz Pollack Brant Advisors + CPAs finished the day with a session on the impact of CECL implementation. Tax heard engaging sessions from speakers Alan Halprin, Kelly Phillips, and Bryan Skarlatos.

After a day of highly technical sessions, we finished the afternoon with an engaging Environmental Social Responsibility (ESR) activity sponsored by AssurancePrep. Members were led through various eye-opening leadership/team building exercises before working together to construct over 25 bicycles that were donated to the local YMCA to be distributed to underserved children in Ft. Lauderdale. Finally, members were excited to spend a relaxing evening at the beautiful Shooter’s Waterfront restaurant right on the water to continue their conversations from the day.

Our final day of sessions included assurance speakers Sarah Ference, and Ahava Goldman, and tax speakers Alexandros Gamaletsos of PSB Boisjoli on behalf of Peter Seidel and Mark Gallagos of Porte Brown. Both groups ended their mornings with a lunch-and-learn roundtable session around best practices so members could review what they had learned and discuss what all they would be taking home with them from the week.

Thank you to all our members, sponsors, and speakers who make our events so impactful!