Kennedy and Coe LLC — a national accounting and consulting firm in the food and agriculture industry — announced plans to combine with California CPA firm Matson and Isom. Owners of both firms voted to merge operations on Jan. 1, 2015, pending final approvals.
 Together, the firm becomes one of the nation’s largest agricultural consulting and CPA practices. With a combined 375 people and almost $60 million in revenue, it will be about 60th in size among U.S. CPA firms. Jeff Wald will preside as chief executive officer and the firm will bear a new name which honors the legacies of the two firms.
Jeff Wald, CEO of Kennedy and Coe, commented on the merger.
 “We do great work in our key focus areas, and as a firm that started in the Heartland, Kennedy and Coe’s deepest focus has always been in food and agriculture. We are determined to be part of the industry rather than a firm that just serves it. Over the years, we’ve added extraordinary capabilities and talent to anticipate and preempt problems for clients, and to help them seize new opportunities,” he said. “Matson and Isom is a great firm that also happens to be the largest local CPA firm in the incredibly important California food and ag market. Most importantly, we share this unique vision to positively impact the future of farming and food production in America.”
 Both firms help producers sustain and grow their businesses in wildly fluctuating conditions — weather, commodity price volatility, land values, and economic pressures — making sure their operations are strong and thriving for the next generation. Both firms work extensively with related businesses throughout the food-supply chain including input suppliers, processors, packagers, storage, and distributors to name a few.   
 “Neither of our firms are interested in growth for growth’s sake. What we’re interested in is helping the food and ag industry through some challenging yet exciting times. We can do that a lot better together than separately,” said Jim Holt, Matson and Isom’s managing director. “We’ve both worked alongside farmers for several generations. We know what their land and their lifestyle mean to them, and we know how to help them in the tough times and the good.”
Matson and Isom is the largest CPA firm north of Sacramento. It’s among the region’s largest employers, and ranks within the Top 200 CPA firms in the U.S. according to AccountingToday magazine. About one-third of the firm’s business relates to food and agriculture. The firm also works with manufacturers, education, construction, landowners, developers, and health care.
 In 2013, Kennedy and Coe acquired Vela Environmental and AgKnowledge, businesses that expanded the firm’s offerings to include proactive policy and legislative involvement, sustainability and resource planning, and detailed profit-margin management at the crop and acre level. Sixty percent of the firm’s business relates to food and agriculture with the rest in biofuels, manufacturing, construction, landowners, developers, community banks, and health-care providers. The firm is ranked by AccountingToday as one the top 100 largest CPA and consulting firms in the U.S., with offices in Kansas, Colorado, Mississippi, Wyoming, and Washington DC.