43 BRAND STORY The right stuff Originally founded in Eugene in 1945, Kernutt Stokes is now one of the larger accounting firms in Oregon. It employs roughly 120 people across its five offices and clocked in at No. 240 on Inside Public Accounting’s 2026 list of the top 500 CPA firms based on net revenue. But for Kernutt Stokes, size isn’t what’s most important. “I care that we can continue to grow our firm in a way that continues to serve our clients at a really high level,” Ritchie says. “As long as we can do that with the right clients and the right staff with the right expertise, then we’re happy to grow.” Kernutt Stokes primarily serves forprofit, privately held businesses and their owners. Its specialty areas include construction, beverage, agriculture, manufacturing, transportation, familyowned businesses and real estate. Ritchie says the firm tends to skew more toward complex businesses that are larger and need more services, which at Kernutt Stokes includes everything from tax consulting, compliance and retirement-plan services to auditing, assurance, accounting, estate planning, business consulting and more. The firm is also a member of the BDO Alliance USA, which provides Kernutt Stokes and its clients access to the top minds in accounting from across the country to provide the highest level of services. “While we have clients who are working with our 120-person firm, through the BDO Alliance, we have the resources of a national firm,” Ritchie says. “There’s pretty much nothing that we can’t do for our clients. We are not going to be limited by the complexity of what they need.” Relationship building Kernutt Stokes’ expanded presence in the Portland metro region had multiple motivations. For starters, Ritchie says the firm wanted to be able to land the top-tier talent who live in the area and are led by the firm’s Portland partners Katie Eyre, Blair Walker and Kaitlyn Coburn. Similarly, there are opportunities to add high-level clients to the Kernutt Stokes lineup. “We look at our growth somewhat selectively,” Ritchie says. “We pick the endeavors we want to go after, but we don’t want to grow too fast because we don’t want to lose the quality of what we provide our clients. We’re very mindful about that.” Another reason for a bigger footprint around the Rose City region was simply to have more people in the Kernutt Stokes offices to build the kind of “I care that we can continue to grow our firm in a way that continues to serve our clients at a really high level. As long as we can do that with the right clients and the right staff with the right expertise, then we’re happy to grow.” STEVE RITCHIE MANAGING PARTNER, KERNUTT STOKES PHOTOS BY JASON E. KAPLAN
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