Photronics, Inc
6th February, 2008
Photronics, Inc
Transcontinental UHY member firms worked together to complete a Sarbanes-Oxley regulations review for international electronics manufacturer Photronics Inc, with annual revenues of USD 450 million. UHY firms in the US, the UK and Taiwan were involved.
Photronics is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of photomasks – high-precision photographic quartz plates containing microscopic images of electronic circuits. Photomasks are a key element in the manufacture of semiconductors and are used as masters to transfer circuit patterns onto semiconductor wafers during the fabrication of integrated circuits and, to a lesser extent, other types of electrical components.
Photronics, launched in Connecticut, US, in 1969, now operates globally from ten manufacturing facilities: two in the US, three in Europe, two in Taiwan, and one each in Korea, Singapore and China. The Asian semiconductor market is among the most technologically aggressive in the world and Photronics is actively expanding operations to meet its growing demand.
The company’s first suite of nanotechnology line tools to support high-volume production was installed in its manufacturing facility in Taiwan. The company’s acquisition of PKL Co., Ltd., a leading Korean photomask manufacturer, added much-needed capacity to its facilities in Taiwan and Singapore. And Photronics has also constructed its first photomask fabrication facility in Shanghai, China, positioning the company as a key photomask supplier to the world’s fastest-growing semiconductor region.
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002, commonly known as SOX, is a US federal law intended to uphold public trust and ensure corporate adherence to new accounting reporting practices. Further, to enhance transparency, US companies are prevented from using their appointed auditor to undertake a SOX inquiry.
An international team of UHY member firms were engaged to provide SOX expertise to Photronics, a 16-month programme of work, at a time when public interest in SOX regulatory issues was at its most intense. The SOX work involved Photronics’ locations and subsidiaries in the US, the UK and Taiwan. UHY Advisors’ Connecticut office headed the assignment and led an international team including UHY members in Manchester, UK, and Taiwan. Weekly team reviews followed joint face-to-face client and service team planning meetings in both the US and the UK.
UHY Advisors’ Mike Waggoner, based in Connecticut, says that Photronics expressed its complete satisfaction at the cohesive teamwork engendered by UHY’s member firms and, by the end of the assignment, Photronics was equipped to set up its own in-house SOX team to continue internal reviews of its regulatory procedures.
UHY’s Taiwan member firm also provides financial reporting and transfer pricing services to intermediate processor Photronics Semiconductor Mask Corp (PSMC), based in a high-tech zone at Hsin-Chu City, Taiwan. Another UHY member firm, UHY Diong, provides services to a Photronics affiliate in Singapore.
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