Firm Management
Kennedy and Coe Finalizes Merger with Matson and Isom
The California accounting firm of Kennedy and Coe has finalized a merger with Matson and Isom, effective January 1, 2015. The new firm, K-Coe Isom, has approximately $56.3 million in revenue and a staff of 360 people, and is about the 60th largest firm...
Jan. 05, 2015
The California accounting firm of Kennedy and Coe has finalized a merger with Matson and Isom, effective January 1, 2015. The new firm, K-Coe Isom, has approximately $56.3 million in revenue and a staff of 360 people, and is about the 60th largest firm in the U.S. The firm has deep specialties as consultants and CPAs in food and agriculture, the firm’s primary industry.
K-Coe Isom serves domestic and international clientele from 17 coast-to-coast offices.
“We first explored merging because Kennedy and Coe and Matson and Isom both originated in rural communities in Kansas and Northern California, respectively, where agriculture and food production were, and still are, predominant,” explains Jeff Wald, K·Coe Isom’s CEO. “Food and ag makes up about two-thirds of our business. Our firms came together because we shared a single vision: to positively impact the future of farming and food production in America.”
K·Coe Isom sustains and grows food and ag operations in wildly fluctuating conditions—weather, commodity price volatility, land values, and economic pressures—making sure businesses are strong for the next generation. The firm is embedded throughout the food-supply chain, working with producers, input suppliers, processors, packagers, distributors, biofuel manufacturers, equipment dealerships, landowners, lenders, and agencies and policy organizations that support the industry.
The firm also has strong regional presence in community banks, construction, real estate and development, manufacturing, healthcare, education, and technology.
“While our industry synergy was definitely important, this merger happened because our leaders are invested in being vastly better than the typical CPA firm in three ways: through our focus and impact, passion and talent, and better business model,” says Wald. “Focusing deeply on just a few industries, we harness the passion and talent of true specialists in order to deliver meaningful and life-changing results.
“We also operate with a pretty rare (for CPA firms) business model that is much more customer-friendly. We provide prices in advance, based on clients’ perception of worth for whatever we’re committing to bring to the table. We do this because valuable results are what matter to people, not the amount of time spent doing the work.”
K·Coe Isom’s governing board consists of seven people (a mix from Matson and Kennedy) to whom the CEO reports. The firm’s CEO is Jeff Wald, former CEO of Kennedy and Coe since 2013. Wald, age 42, operates from Loveland, Colorado (bio at: www.kcoe.com/people/jeff-wald/) Matson and Isom’s former managing director Jim Holt remains with the firm, and is pleased to hand the reins to Wald.