You See the Payroll. You See the Audit Exposure. Before Anyone Else Does.

No. Under Florida §626.112(8), an unlicensed person may receive a single flat fee for referring a prospective client to a licensed agent, provided the fee is not contingent on the purchase of insurance. For PEO, payroll, and audit defense referrals — which are not insurance products — no license analysis is needed at all.

Workers' comp carriers conduct annual audits to reconcile estimated premiums against actual payroll. Auditors frequently misclassify employees, fail to apply subcontractor exclusions, or assign incorrect class codes — resulting in audit demands that can run $10,000–$50,000 or more. Audit defense involves reviewing the carrier's audit, identifying errors, and disputing the findings. As a bookkeeper, you are often the first person to see that an audit demand is wrong.

A Professional Employer Organization (PEO) co-employs a client's workforce, handling payroll, HR compliance, benefits, and workers' comp under the PEO's master policy. Florida contractors with 5–50 employees often benefit significantly — they get access to group rates, reduce audit exposure, and simplify compliance. If you have clients in this range who are struggling with payroll complexity or workers' comp costs, they are likely good PEO candidates.

Results vary, but disputed audit findings commonly result in reductions of 20–60% of the audit demand. For a contractor receiving a $40,000 audit demand, a successful dispute can recover $10,000–$25,000. The fee for audit defense is typically a percentage of the savings recovered — so there is no upfront cost to the client.

Florida contractors (roofers, electricians, plumbers, HVAC, general contractors) with annual payrolls of $300,000 or more are the highest-value referral candidates. Any employer who has received a workers' comp audit demand, is considering switching payroll providers, or has subcontractors on their payroll is a strong fit.