INDEPENDENT ACCOUNTANTS’ REPORT To the Stockholders and Board of Directors First Merchants Corporation Muncie, Indiana We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of First Merchants Corporation as of December 31, 2003 and 2002, and the related consolidated statements of income, comprehensive income, stockholders’ equity and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2003. These consolidated financial statements are the responsibility of the Corporation’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these consolidated financial statements based on our audits. We conducted our audits in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of America. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion. In our opinion, based on our audits, the consolidated financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the consolidated financial position of First Merchants Corporation as of December 31, 2003 and 2002, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2003, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. As more fully discussed in Note 7, the Corporation changed its method of accounting for goodwill in 2002. BKD, LLP Indianapolis, Indiana January 23, 2004 22