PORT TOWNSEND — The parent firm of Jefferson County’s largest private employer, Port Townsend Paper Corp., has appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as its new independent audit firm.
PT Holdings Co. Inc. executives have been searching for a new auditing firm after KPMG LLP declined to be reappointed as the company’s independent auditing firm.
KPMG was concerned about matters related to PT Holdings’ internal controls and operation, a Standard & Poor’s Rating Services report recently stated.
The kraft pulp and paper company employs 320 at the former Crown Zellerbach mill just south of Port Townsend, and an additional 430 at mills in British Columbia.
Standard & Poor’s, the world’s foremost provider of independent credit ratings, indices, risk evaluation, investment research and valuations, reported that Port Townsend Paper’s B-minus credit rating remains unchanged.
New controller hired
Timothy P. Leybold, chief financial officer, in a phone interview from Miami — where he and company president John Begley were attending a bankers conference — said the mill has hired Carl Simpson as its new controller.
The executives were also to visit New York City, where they will meet Friday with credit agencies, Leybold said.
“This does not complete everything with the rating,” Leybold said of the new auditor and controller appointments.
But company executives anticipate it will help them achieve that goal, he said.
