In the 1990s, the importance of international rating agencies became more pronounced among stakeholders who were interested in screening companies based on specific financial criteria. Now with a focus on sustainability, stakeholders are interested in screening companies on both financial and...

We examine the practices of various international rating agencies and develop a framework based on the auditor independence model to examine the acceptability of various rating agency methodologies. Rating agencies methodologies are classified as solicited, unsolicited or co-operative depending...