With that in mind, Ingram’s sought out top executives of accounting and consulting firms in the region to gather their perspective on the top performers in a range of accounting and consulting specialties. They didn’t just blow the horns for their own firms, and they didn’t hold back: Here is a lineup of professionals considered by those executives to be among the best in everything from accounting and business appraisals to estate planning and benefit planning.
Is it comprehensive? Not entirely—we queried dozens of leading accounting and consulting professionals, and these are the names they say come to mind. Still, our hope is that this roster of skilled pros will become a valuable resource for your own organization, so by all means: Use the heck out of it.
Accounting & Bookkeeping
Working with public and private businesses small, large and in between, Rick Damore is chief financial officer at Interim Solutions in Kansas City. He has more than 30 years of experience in senior financial operations management positions and turnaround management consulting. Just a few of his specialties include business planning and profit improvement, balance sheet management, bank relations and succession planning.
CPA Rick Hann has been crunching numbers for more than 40 years, most of that time at the firm that carries his name in Kansas City. There, he directs services in accounting, income tax preparation and business consulting.
Paul Blanck, a CPA and partner at Blanck & Lancey in Kansas City, comes recommended for his skills and his firm’s in accounting, auditing and bookkeeping services, along with expertise in tax preparation and payroll services, including payroll tax administration.
It’s hard to classify someone skilled in as many areas as Scott McRuer of McRuer CPAs; he’s not only an accounting and tax strategy expert for his Kansas City firm, but provides counseling in business growth and wealth management, too. His accounting perspective comes both from owning a small business as well as previous stints at Price Waterhouse and H&R Block.
Auditing/Forensic & Fraud Investigation
With both an accounting degree and a law degree, CPA Steve Hawkins brings the complete package to auditing tasks; he’s also a certified fraud examiner. Before joining Hutchins and Haake in Overland Park, he worked a combined 23 years for KPMG and the Prestia Vick & Associates accounting firms.
Ernst & Young brings a bevy of talent to the fields of auditing and forensic accounting. That starts with Steve Clifford, managing partner of the Kansas City office, who has a broad background in retail and consumer products, manufacturing and service sectors; partner John Passanisi, whose 18 years in the field have all been with the firm he joined shortly after graduating from the University of Missouri; Randy Buseman, who doubles as E&Y’s program director for its Entrepreneur of the Year awards; assurance partner Shannon Stites, whose areas of concentration include retail business, life sciences organizations, manufacturer, and distribution. Forensics and fraud work, in particular, have earned strong recommendations for Stacy Kempf, a senior manager who serves as operations leader for the business-risk services division.
Steve Browne directs the audit, valuation and litigation support departments for Meara Welch Browne, where he’s
a CPA accredited in business valuation, and certified in information technology, fraud examination and information systems auditing, and serves as an expert witness in criminal cases.
Dana McIntire, a partner at Trout Beeman & Co. in Harrisonville, manages most of the firm’s audits and reviews of finances for local government at the city and county level, as well as non-profit organizations water districts, grain elevators, and other industries, and is a certified peer reviewer who performs approximately 10 reviews a year.
RSM McGladrey partner Julee Fox specializes in audits of financial institutions, employee benefit plans and software development companies. She leads the depository institutions team in the western region for the firm. Her previous experience was with Dalby, Wendland and Co., and with Ernst & Young.
Todd Pleimann, who serves as managing partner of RubinBrown’s Kansas City office, is a partner in the assurance services group. He specializes in auditing, as well as general accounting and income tax advisory services for companies and individuals. Chip Harris, another partner, is a 15-year accounting veteran and CPA who leads the firm’s benefit plan audit group, where he’s been instrumental in building up the Kansas City operations.
Municipal-Public Finance
Kaleb Lilly is the vice-chairman of the public sector services group at RubinBrown. In addition to auditing
and consulting services for public-sector clients—including state and local governments and public universities—he works with contractors, manufacturers and companies in the distribution sector.
Business-Value Appraisals
Accredited in both business valuation and as a certified fraud examiner, John Meara directs the auditing, business valuation, and litigation support services at Meara Welch Browne in Kansas City, where he also adds general business consulting services. He’s been owner or partner for more than 35 years, since his stints at Price Waterhouse and Laventhol & Horwath.
Rob Metcalf, a CPA for 37 years, manages the business-valuation practice for Marks Nelson Vohland Campbell and Radetic in Overland Park, and has worked on hundreds of business valuations, ranging from small family-owned concerns to national operations. He also is an expert witness in federal and state court cases.
Financial Analysis
Dan Hutchins, a partner at Hutchins & Haake, has been in public accounting for three decades, with five of those
years at Deloitte & Touche. In addition to advising small businesses on startup, operations and sale or acquisition, he helps train the next cohorts of CPAs—he’s a Becker CPA exam instructor for the Keller Graduate School of Management, and has been teaching CPA exam prep courses for 17 years.
Estate Planning/Charitable Giving
Randy Gardner of Estate Plan, Inc., is a lifetime Kansas Citian and he’s considered among the elite players in that field. A Harvard graduate with MBA and law degrees from the University of Kansas, he also has a master’s in tax law from UMKC, where he is a professor of tax and financial planning and director of the certificate in financial planning program.
Another top recommendation also has a UMKC affiliation: Christopher Hoyt, a professor there, is a nationally known speaker and author on federal taxation, charitable organizations, business law, estates and trusts. The American Bar Association made him a committee chairman for probate and trust gift planning, and he’s on the editorial board of Trusts and Estates magazine.