Michael Lutz At Mize Houser

Michael Lutz,  who grew up in Rossville is the CEO of Mize Houser & Co. P. A.  

From the Capital-Journal:

Topeka-based Mize Houser & Co. P.A. was recognized as a “Firm to Watch” by a top accounting magazine.

“Accounting Today” named the company, which has offices in Lawrence and Overland Park, to its list of businesses that are experiencing significant growth, called “Firms to Watch.” Mize Houser revenues in 2015 jumped 5.94 percent to $24.63 million.

Shareholder James Hilbert said the company has seen steady growth, that has accelerated through significant investments in technology and with business in 40 states.

“Way back into the early ’70s, they were one of the first firms to invest in technology,” he said. “We’re unique in that we have programmers in house. A lot of FPA firms our size don’t have an IT department. We developed our own accounting software package that we can market to firms or companies throughout the United States. Investing in that technology, it’s really opened a lot of doors to us.”

Hilbert said Mize Houser competes with national firms like ADP for payroll accounts, by offering personal service. “I think what sets us apart from them, the big payroll firms, is if you call them and have a question, you never know who’s going to answer the phone. We assign a person to work on your account,” he said.

In addition, they have acquired new clients whose payroll companies couldn’t handle the reporting requirements of the Affordable Care Act, he said. “We’re large enough that we can provide real technical responses, and we’re small enough that we can give them mom-and-pop service.”

The company has grown from about 135 employees in about 2005 to about 230 now. The Topeka office has 160 employees, while 35 work in Overland Park and 35 in Lawrence.

Legacy Financial Strategies Topeka office moves

The Topeka office of Legacy Financial Strategies LLC has relocated, moving up one floor in the business’s current location to increase the space available for its use.

Marguerite Armitage, a spokesperson for the Overland Park-based firm, said the company moved upstairs at its 1414 S.W. Ashworth Place location.

The additional space is useful to the company, which merged three businesses together last year. Legacy Financial, an Overland Park-based business, combined with two Topeka businesses, Peoples Wealth Management and Peoples Benefit Group.

“Michael Lutz is our CEO, and he grew up in Rossville,” Armitage said. “He worked for a number of years in Topeka, and he has always wanted to expand into Topeka, so he was looking for the right merger. For Jim (Reardon, owner of Peoples Wealth Management), he also spent a few years looking for the right candidate. He had a solo practice, and he wanted to make sure his clients had continuity if he wasn’t able to take care of them.”

Nick Neukirch, formerly president and CEO of Peoples Benefit Group, had already partnered with Legacy and officially came into the fold in 2015, she said.