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By Scott Miller
Staff Writer
Three of the Palmetto State’s oldest accounting firms are joining forces.
McKnight Frampton CPAs LLC and Schleeter Monsen & Debacker LLP merged with Elliott Davis LLC, effective Jan. 1, the three firms announced today.
Financial terms of the merger were not released.
“We are proud to join together with two of Charleston’s most experienced and highly regarded firms so that we may provide a broader range of accounting and business advisory services to the Charleston area,” said Todd Mitchell, chairman of Elliott Davis.
Some of those expanded advisory services are in technology solutions, investment, mergers and banking, grants and economic incentives, real estate and others.
For Schleeter Monsen & Debacker, the merger brings more resources to assist the firm’s growing number of international clients, said Victor Kliossis, partner in the agency.
Melonie Hammond-Trace, a partner with McKnight Frampton, noted that her firm’s focus on middle-market businesses will not change.
“Our roots are firmly planted in Charleston and we, along with Schleeter Monsen & Debacker and Elliott Davis, are dedicated to continuing to deliver the same high quality, personalized service our clients have come to expect from us over the years,” she said.
The agencies will work from existing offices in downtown Charleston but plan to consolidate into one building in about six months. The firm is still negotiating for space, Kliossis said.
The agencies will operate under the Elliott Davis name.
All employees of the three firms will remain on board, Kliossis said, providing a seamless transition for the firms’ clients.
“Our client base today, nothing will change,” he said. “They’ll still be working with the same people they’ve been working with for five, 10, 20 years.”
Including all three firms, Elliott Davis will have 375 employees.
Schleeter Monsen & Debacker was founded in Charleston in 1919, McKnight Frampton in 1934 and Elliott Davis in 1925.
Negotiations for the merger have been ongoing for about a year.
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