How Can Companies Actively Redound to Improve Their Ratings? A Current Bank Survey

The article deals with the possibilities of improving companies´ ratings used for the evaluation of the probability of default of the credits granted by banks. There are two general views mentioned in the article. The view of banks, which can refine their conditions, and, above all, adapt themselves to potential risks, which leads to an improvement of their own risk management and their refinancing conditions. The view of companies, whose good ratings, no matter whether arranged by banks or by external rating agencies, imply appropriate interest terms. The influencing factors for the rating are known by many companies. Hence, in practice it is often a target to influence these factors and key figures positively. A successful implementation of the findings of the conducted survey would help companies to improve their rating. The main part of the article describes the results extracted for this purpose from the survey which was carried out between 28 November .2008 and 28 February 2009. The analysis of the survey identified contemporary allocation of documents, completeness of documents, actual financial + profit planning, disclosure of accounting policy and extensive company documentation as the five best possibilities for companies to improve their ratings. Also we can see a strong weighting of the banks on measures within the ranges of documentation and balance relations. Of course, the conclusion concerning the best possibility for the rating improvement cannot be seen as unambiguous, since it depends on too many variables.