Corporate governance and corporate ratings

The rating process results from a set of procedures for assessing mainly quantitative factors. The validity of the latter in predicting the risk of default of companies seems absolutely ascertained both in literature and in the operating world. On the other hand, the role of the qualitative assessment in estimating a company’s reliability is not entirely defined. For this reason, it is also necessary to investigate non-financial aspects, in order to empirically verify whether the latter are able to improve the prediction of the probability of default. In particular, the team of researchers investigates how the integration of quantitative and qualitative factors contributes to better defining the reliability judgment of companies.

The analysis of corporate governance decisions can represent an effective summary of the quality profile of companies, since the aspects related to governance mechanisms and the composition of ownership, allow to grasp characterization elements that cannot be used through a simple analysis of financial factors. While the analysis of the quantitative component through the main representative ratios of profitability, debt exposure and the degree of liquidity remains essential, together with internal and external trends, on the other hand, the inclusion of qualitative risk factors, mainly attributable to governance decisions, within the evaluation system is one of the main tasks of the research team in order to achieve an enrichment of knowledge on the reliability of companies.