Enterprise risk management (ERM) initiatives have gained strong support from a new source: credit rating analysts. In November 2007, Standard & Poor’s (S&P) issued its Request for Comment: Enterprise Risk Management Analysis for Credit Ratings of Nonfinancial Companies (RFC), reflecting the rating service’s intention to assign scores of ERM quality to all companies it reviews and incorporate an ERM segment into its ratings reports.

S&P continues its initiative to assess ERM quality of all companies it reviews. This issue explores how consideration of ERM quality can impact the ratings process and what nonfinancial companies can do to prepare for this added dimension to the process.