SEC Company Response from QUICKLOGIC Corp (QUIK) (CIK 0000882508) (QUIK) — Feb 14, 2007
QUICKLOGIC Corp (QUIK) (CIK 0000882508)
Date: Feb. 14, 2007 · CIK: 0000882508 · Accession: 0001104659-07-011374
AI Filing Summary & Sentiment
Referenced dates: January 31, 2007
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CORRESP 1 filename1.htm February 14, 2007 Securities and Exchange Commission Judiciary Plaza 450 Fifth Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20549 Attention: Kevin L. Vaughn, Branch Chief Re: QuickLogic Corporation Form 10-K for the Fiscal Year Ended January 1, 2006 Form 10-Q for the Quarterly Period Ended October 1, 2006 File No. 0-22671 Dear Mr. Vaughn: We are submitting this letter on behalf of QuickLogic Corporation (the “Company”) in response to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (the “Commission”) letter dated January 31, 2007 (the “Comment Letter”) addressed to E. Thomas Hart, Chief Executive Officer of the Company. For your convenience, we have repeated your comments 1 through 2 below and the headings and numbered responses in this response letter correspond to the headings and numbered comments contained in the Comment Letter. Please feel free to contact me at the number at the end of this response letter with any further questions or comments you may have. Form 10-K for the Fiscal Year Ended January 1, 2006 Note 1 — The Company and the Basis of Presentation, page 62 1. We note that although your fiscal year ends on the Sunday closest to December 31, you present consolidated balance sheets and income statements as of and for the periods ended December 31, 2005, 2004 and 2003 for presentation purposes. Please revise future filings to present your financial statements so that the year ends referred to in the filing correspond to your actual year ends. Additionally please ensure that the Report of your Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm also refers to your actual year ends. Response: In response to the Staff’s comment, in all future filings, the Company intends to present its financial statements as of its actual fiscal year end and will ensure that the Report of its Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm also refers to the Company’s actual fiscal year end. Form 10-Q for the Quarterly Period Ended October 1, 2006 Note 1 — The Company and Basis of Presentation, page 7 2. We note your disclosure related to your adoption of Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 108, Considering the Effects of Prior Year Misstatements when Quantifying Misstatements in Current Year Financial Statements (SAB 108). You state that your review of employee stock option grants concluded that certain errors committed in the process of documenting grants and accounting for stock options were not material to any prior year end. However, given that the effect of correcting these errors in 2006 would cause the 2006 consolidated financial statements to be materially misstated, you have concluded that the cumulative effect adjustment method of initially applying the guidance of SAB 108 was appropriate. Please note that the SAB 108 transition provisions provide for a cumulative effect adjustment for errors determined to be immaterial in prior periods under an issuer’s previous and properly applied methodology, and after considering appropriate qualitative factors, but that are material to those periods based on the guidance of SAB 108. SAB 99 notes that a materiality evaluation must be based on all relevant quantitative and qualitative factors. Based on your facts and circumstances, and given the subject matter of the review, it is unclear whether the use of the one-time cumulative effect adjustment permitted by SAB 108 is appropriate. Please address the following: · Provide us with your annual SAB 99 materiality analysis explaining how you determined that the errors related to each prior period were immaterial on both a quantitative and qualitative basis. Please ensure your response addresses all of the qualitative factors outlined in SAB 99 and any other relevant qualitative factors. Please also provide additional detail with respect to the adjustments made to the employee grants after the grant date. · If you have concluded that the effects of these errors on prior periods would have been considered material in each period based on the guidance of SAB 108, provide us with your SAB 108 materiality analysis for each period. · If you have concluded that the effects of these errors on prior periods would not have been considered material in each period based on the guidance of SAB 108, tell us why you believe the use of the one-time cumulative effect adjustment permitted by SAB 108 is appropriate. Response: Background Under the direction of the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors and with the assistance of Ireland San Filippo LLP, an independent accounting firm that assists the Company with its Sarbanes-Oxley 2 internal controls testing, and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, the Company voluntarily conducted an internal review of the Company’s historical stock option granting practices and related accounting for the period from October 15, 1999, the date of its initial public offering, through July 28, 2006, the date upon which stock option exercises were suspended subject to completion of the stock option review. The review consisted of approximately 1,450 grants and 405 employee files, which covers all grants, terminations and new hires during the period under review. The review took approximately five months to complete. During its review, the Company identified certain errors committed in the process of documenting grants and accounting for stock options associated with measurement dates, grants made to individuals prior to meeting the definition of an employee under GAAP, non-employee grants, modification of options and previously reported deferred stock compensation charges. While management did find errors, it did not find any systematic or pervasive practices to account for stock options in a manner inconsistent with GAAP or the Company’s stated policies and procedures. It did not find evidence that the errors were motivated by any intention to mislead investors or affect reported financial results. The findings of the Company’s review, its assessment of the findings, its materiality assessment and the application of SAB 108 were reviewed by the Audit Committee, external auditors and outside legal counsel prior to filing the Company’s 10-Q for the second quarter of 2006 on December 22, 2006. Accounting Policies and Principles Prior to fiscal 2006, the Company accounted for employee stock options using Accounting Principles Board Opinion No. 25, “Accounting for Stock Issued to Employees” (“APB 25”) and the disclosure-only provisions of Statement of Financial Accounting Standard (“SFAS”) No. 123, “Accounting for Stock-Based Compensation” (“SFAS 123”). In 1997 and 1999, the Company recorded deferred stock compensation on employee stock options issued prior to becoming a public company and amortized the cheap stock charge over the vesting period of the options. Beginning in fiscal 2006, the Company adopted SFAS No. 123(R), “Share-Based Payment” (“SFAS 123(R)”). Prior to the adoption of Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 108, “Considering the Effects of Prior Year Misstatements when Quantifying Misstatements in Current Year Financial Statements” (“SAB 108”) in fiscal 2006, the Company used the rollover method to analyze the materiality of potential adjustments to its financial statements. Summary of the Financial Impact of Findings A summary of the financial impact of the Company’s findings from its review of stock option granting practices and related accounting is as follows (all amounts are pre-tax in thousands): 3 Description Amount 1 From October 1999 through May 2004, the date used to determine the exercise price for certain stock option grants preceded the finalization of the approval process of those grants for accounting purposes due to administrative errors in documenting or approving the grants. The total intrinsic value (the difference between the exercise price and the price of the Company’s stock on the measurement date) of these “in-the-money” grants should have been amortized over their vesting period in the Company’s previously issued consolidated financial statements. $ 787 2 From October 1999 through July 2002, certain individuals were granted options prior to meeting all of the criteria of an employee under GAAP, as defined by APB 25 and related interpretations, due to errors in documenting the individuals’ start of employment. The total intrinsic value of these grants should have been amortized over their vesting period in the Company’s previously issued consolidated financial statements. 449 3 The Company found accounting errors related to non-employee option grants from January 2000 through October 2002 which should have been recorded over their vesting period. 328 4 The Company found errors related to the modification of stock options to certain employees between March 2001 and August 2005, for which charges should have been recorded. The errors were the result of unclear documentation and lapses in communication concerning employee termination agreements. Generally, these modifications were made in the context of separation agreements that permitted additional vesting and/or time to exercise options after the employee had ceased performing services. 132 5 In accordance with APB 25, the Company recorded deferred stock-based compensation in connection with grants of stock options to employees and directors prior to the Company’s initial public offering if the fair market value of the Company’s common stock determined for financial reporting purposes was greater than the fair value determined by the Board of Directors on the date of grant (commonly known as a “cheap stock” charge). As of October 15, 1999, the Company had approximately $1.6 million of deferred stock-based compensation recorded in the stockholders’ equity section of the balance sheet, which was amortized over the original vesting period of the stock options. During the review, the Company determined that the reported deferred stock-based compensation account was not properly adjusted to reflect forfeitures. If an option is forfeited, the deferred stock-based compensation balance related to unvested options should be reversed and no future expense recognized. As a result, total stock-based compensation expense was overstated from October 1999 through December 2003 due to this accounting error in the application of the provisions of APB 25. (732) Total $ 964 4 The impact of the errors if they had been appropriately recorded in the Company’s previously issued statements of operations under the rollover method is as follows (in thousands): Fiscal Year Net Income (Loss) (as previously reported) Adjustment Net Income (Loss) (as adjusted) Percentage of Reported Net Income (Loss) 1999 $ 3,161 $ 45 $ 3,206 1.4 % 2000 9,630 (233 ) 9,397 2.4 % 2001 (26,478 ) (195 ) (26,673 ) 0.7 % 2002 (31,287 ) (148 ) (31,435 ) 0.5 % 2003 (4,719 ) (118 ) (4,837 ) 2.5 % 2004 (8,832 ) (230 ) (9,062 ) 2.6 % 2005 2,350 (85 ) 2,265 3.6 % $ (964 ) The impact of the errors, if the cumulative amount of the errors including amounts related to previous years had been recorded in one fiscal year under the iron curtain method, is as follows (in thousands): Fiscal Year Net Income (Loss) (as previously reported) Adjustment Cumulative Adjustment Net Income (Loss) (as adjusted) Percentage of Reported Net Income (Loss) 1999 $ 3,161 $ 45 $ 45 $ 3,206 1.4 % 2000 9,630 (233 ) (188 ) 9,442 2.0 % 2001 (26,478 ) (195 ) (383 ) (26,861 ) 1.4 % 2002 (31,287 ) (148 ) (531 ) (31,818 ) 1.7 % 2003 (4,719 ) (118 ) (649 ) (5,368 ) 13.8 % 2004 (8,832 ) (230 ) (879 ) (9,711 ) 10.0 % 2005 2,350 (85 ) (964 ) 1,386 41.0 % $ (964 ) SAB 99 Analysis Quantitative Factors The first step in analyzing materiality under SAB 99 is a quantitative analysis. The Company has identified issues that resulted in: a) a charge to the financial statements; b) a reversal of a charge already reflected in the financial statements; and, c) no charge to the financial statements because the market value of the common stock on the measurement date was below the exercise price. The Company considered the adjustments on both an individual and aggregate basis and concluded that all the adjustments are related to incorrectly accounting for stock options and would be reported on the same financial statement line items. Accordingly, the Company believes it is appropriate to aggregate these errors for its materiality assessment. Furthermore, the Company believes that the rollover method to 5 analyze the materiality of potential adjustments to its financial statements is the most appropriate method since this was the method used prior to the adoption of SAB 108. Rollover Method Analysis In the aggregate, the total charges identified by the Company’s review were $964,000 affecting fiscal years from 1999 through 2005. Net income (loss) is used in this analysis since the Company operated at a loss in most reporting periods that are encompassed by the review, the amounts that should have been recorded primarily affect operating expenses, and the effects on the Company’s tax provision were minimal. On an annual basis under the rollover method, the maximum amount that relates to any one year is $233,000 and in no year is the amount more than 3.6% of net income (loss) or more than 0.9% of operating expenses, which consists of research and development and sales, general and administrative expenses. In none of the seven fiscal years would the charge have resulted in net income becoming a net loss. Therefore, management believes that, under the rollover method, the result of recording the portion of the $964,000 total charge in the appropriate year would not be material on a quantitative basis to that year. As of June 30, 2006, the aggregate charge of $964,000 represented 0.8% of accumulated deficit on the balance sheet and 2.3% of stockholders’ equity. If the aggregate charge were fully recorded in the second quarter of 2006, the reported net loss would have changed from $1.7 million to $2.7 million, representing 36% of the net loss including the aggregate charge. If the aggregate charge were fully recorded in fiscal 2006, management estimated that the net loss would have changed from approximately $8.7 million to $9.7 million, representing 10.0% of the net loss including the aggregate charge. At the time the Company’s analysis was performed (which was prior to the end of fiscal 2006), the estimate for fiscal 2006 was based on the Company’s most recent forecast and could have changed by up to $1.0 million in either direction due to several factors including revenue levels, spending levels, product mix and production variances. If the estimated fiscal year loss was $1.0 million lower, the estimated net loss would have been approximately $8.7 million after recording the aggregate charge, which represented 11.1% of the net loss including the aggregate charge. If the estimated fiscal year loss was $1.0 million higher, the estimated net loss would have been approximately $10.7 million after recording the aggregate charge, which represented 9.0% of the net loss. Therefore, at the time, management believed that the result of recording the aggregate charge of $964,000 in fiscal 2006 would have resulted in a change in the Company’s net loss of between 9% and 11% and a change in the Com