Over half of CFOs and treasurers believe their credit ratings are not timely enough and that more needs to be done to increase competition between them, according to a survey by the Association for Financial Professionals in the US.
The survey, which was conducted recently by the AFP among its 14,000 members, found that 58% of respondents considered changes to their ratings to be ?not on a timely basis? and that 59% thought the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) should encourage greater competition.
On the subject of oversight, 75% of respondents believed that the SEC should review rating agencies after granting them recognition and 83% believed that regulators should require agencies to document the procedures they use to prevent the disclosure of non-public information.
Unsurprisingly, many respondents felt that their rating was inaccurate, with 34% overall considering it to be incorrect and 50% of companies that had recently been downgraded considering it to be wrong.
The survey also exposed a degree of ignorance among finance professionals as to the information rating agencies publish. For example, 91% of respondents believed the agencies should document the internal controls they have against conflicts of interest, something all four SEC-recognised agencies already do.