LCNB CORP

To the Shareholders and Board of Directors of LCNB Corp.

Opinion on the Consolidated Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of LCNB Corp. and its subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2024 and 2023, the related consolidated statements of income, comprehensive income (loss), shareholders' equity, and cash flows for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2024, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2024 and 2023, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2024, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

Basis for Opinion

The Company's management is responsible for these financial statements. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audits, we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company's internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

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To the Shareholders and Board of Directors of LCNB Corp.

Critical* Audit Matters*

The critical audit matters communicated below are matters arising from the current period audit of the financial statements that was communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that (1) relates to accounts or disclosures that are material to the financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of critical audit matters does not alter in any way our opinion on the financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matters below, providing a separate opinion on the critical audit matters or on the accounts or disclosures to which they relate.

Allowance for Credit Losses on Collectively Evaluated Loans–*** Refer to Notes 1 and 4 to the financial statements***

Critical Audit Matter Description

Management’s estimate of the allowance for credit losses (ACL) includes a reserve on collectively evaluated loans. The reserve on collectively evaluated loans is based on historical loss rates adjusted for qualitative factors. Management’s adjustment for qualitative factors include actual and expected changes in international, national, regional, and local economic and business conditions and developments in which the Company operates that affect the collectability of financial assets; the effect of other external factors such as the regulatory, legal and technological environments, competition, and events such as natural disasters or pandemics; and model risk including statistical risk, reversion risk, timing risk, and model limitation risk.

Significant judgment was required by management in the selection and application of key metrics used to derive the quantitative portion of the ACL. Accordingly, performing audit procedures to evaluate the Company’s estimated ACL involved a high degree of auditor judgment and required significant effort, including the involvement of professionals with specialized skill and knowledge.

How the Critical Audit Matter Was Addressed in the Audit

Our audit procedures related to the Company’s estimate of the ACL on collectively evaluated loans included, but were not limited to, the following:

Valuation of the Acquired Loan Portfolio–*** Refer to Note 2 to the financial statements***

Critical Audit Matter Description

As described in Note 2 to the financial statements, during 2024 the Company acquired Eagle Financial Bancorp, Inc. In connection with the acquisition, management estimated the fair value of acquired loans based on a discounted cash flow methodology that involves assumptions about credit risk, repayments, discount rates, and net losses upon default.

Significant judgment was required by management in the selection and application of certain subjective assumptions. Accordingly, performing audit procedures to evaluate the Company’s estimate of the fair value of acquired loans involved a high degree of auditor judgment and required significant effort, including the involvement of professionals with specialized skill and knowledge.

How the Critical Audit Matter Was Addressed in the Audit

Our audit procedures related to the Company’s accounting for the acquired loan portfolio included, but was not limited to, the following:

/s/Plante & Moran PLLC

We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2022.

Auburn Hills, Michigan

March 12, 2025

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