Rating process and documentation

How the agency will ensure that information which the rated company considers confidential will remain confidential.
What the agenda will look like for the "management meeting." During the rating process, the agency will want to meet with senior management of the company it's rating; agencies usually accomplish this by organizing a one-day visit to corporate headquarters. The agency will send an agenda and a question list to the company in advance, and the company should prepare presentations based on these.
How the rating committee will make the rating decision. The rating committee is the body within the rating agency that makes the final decision on a company's rating level. The analysts that interact with the company present their findings to the rating committee after they have gathered all the information they need.
How the rating agency will make public announcements. The agency should clarify how much time the company will get to review agency press releases and what type of information it will be able to challenge. Usually after a rating committee has provided its opinion, the only things that can change in public announcements are factual inaccuracies or confidential information.
Circumstances under which the company will be able to appeal the outcome of the rating committee decision, and the process for making an appeal if the company chooses to do so.
Circumstances under which the company will be able to keep the rating private if it wishes to. Similarly, the company should clarify which circumstances would enable it to provide the private rating to other parties on non-public transactions.
The process for withdrawing the rating in the future, should the company decide to drop its rating.
The fees that the agency will charge for rating the company, and for rating the organization's bonds and loans.
Whether the rating agency can rate the company under two or more states. For example, if the company is considering a more highly leveraged balance sheet, the rating agency may be able to provide a rating on both its current leverage level and an alternative leverage level. This would likely result in additional fees payable to the agency.

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How to Work With Credit Rating Agencies

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