CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In a deal announced today, Skoda Minotti, a national business advisory firm headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio has merged with Tampa-based Assurance Concepts, LLC, a national assurance solutions and compliance company. The merger has resulted in the formation of a new entity: Assurance Concepts, A Skoda Minotti Advisory Firm. Ben Osbrach, former president of Assurance Concepts, is now a partner with Skoda Minotti and will be based in Skoda Minotti’s Tampa office.
According to Osbrach, “Skoda Minotti provided a unique partner opportunity that enables us to expand our services, increase our national footprint and align with a company of similar values and goals. With quality of service our most important objective, we determined that merging our companies allows us to amplify our service levels for current and future clients. This was just a great fit.”
The merger fully blends the expertise of two well-established advisory firms to offer a total complement of information, security, risk advisory and technology services.
Skoda Minotti is a leader in HIPAA/HITECH compliance, SSAE 16 and Service Organization Control (SOC) audits. Assurance Concepts’ premier services include Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance, ISO 27001-27002 assessments, government auditing (DEA 1311, NIST, FISMA, FISCAM) and penetration testing. In addition, Assurance Concepts is a Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) company.
QSA companies are organizations that have been qualified by the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Security Standards Council, and have undergone a rigorous certification process. Currently, there are only 141 QSA-certified companies in the United States. As it relates to PCI security, Assurance Concepts offers a robust payment card data security process, with varied compliance requirements based on the size of the business.
Specific to SSAE 16 and SOC audits, areas of focus include outsourced service providers including payroll companies, third-party providers and data centers. Industry expertise includes financial institutions, insurance companies and healthcare providers.
“Merging Assurance Concepts with Skoda Minotti allows us to deliver even more risk advisory services to our clients,” says Gregory J. Skoda, CPA, chairman of Skoda Minotti. “We are always looking for strong strategic partnerships that support our vision for growth and expansion, and this merger made perfect business sense. The continued expansion of our specialty services—from technology and security to strategic marketing and professional staffing—greatly enhances our core accounting and tax practice in addition to our advisory offerings nationwide.”
According to Alex White, CPA, co-partner-in-charge of Skoda Minotti’s Tampa office, “Ben’s entrepreneurial spirit makes him the perfect addition to our firm and our culture. From our first meeting it was clear that Ben approached growing his business and serving his clients in a manner very similar to us. We are extremely excited about supporting Ben and his colleagues as we continue to expand our service offerings to our clients and future prospects.”
About Skoda Minotti
Skoda Minotti is a business advisory firm with a history of guiding clients’ economic and professional success. Clients include privately held businesses, public companies, individuals, partnerships and corporations. Along with its renowned accounting and tax services, Skoda Minotti offers a unique complement of advisory services including wealth management, technology, strategic planning, professional staffing and marketing to further advance the growth and success of its clients. Skoda Minotti has offices in Cleveland and Akron, Ohio and Tampa, Florida, and is an independent member of the BDO Seidman Alliance. Learn more at www.skodaminotti.com.
