ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on whether, how and to what extent credit rating agencies consider intangible assets, and what is the weight attributed to such assets. It deals with the content analysis of the rating methodologies; for each rating agency the results are presented by category of intangible resource. Moody's methodologies are characterised by an explicit focus on transparency and disclosure quality, because in this rating agency experience a lack of transparency is often used to obscure problems and on management quality. The management independence and experience, the relationships between managers and shareholders, the quality of the audit process, the personnel and management incentives as well as the ownership structure are some of the elements considered in corporate governance. The chapter presents the results emerging from the interviews conducted with the analysts with regard to the intangible aspects considered in the credit rating process.
