21 Dec Are Credit Ratings Different from Bond Valuations?

Widespread confusion appears to exist among the investing public as to the potential distinction between ratings and valuations. Are they the same? If not, how exactly are they different, and is one more “useful” than the other as a financial measure? Even the SEC is now confused, something quite surprising in light of the fact that they are supposedly regulating rating agencies. Given the importance of this practical distinction, it’s worth spending a few minutes dispelling rumors, lies and innuendos. At a fundamental level, both ideas are identical and the issue of their supposed kinship or difference makes no sense at all. It is equivalent to asking about the difference between degrees Fahrenheit and degrees Centigrade: both are temperature-measurement systems. The only difference is that one system is used in America while the other one is used in Europe and elsewhere. (Should we call this “l’exception Américaine?”) If someone now living in Paris suddenly woke up in New York, confusion would reign only until he learned the new system, which would take less than a day, or even faster if he headed to the beach when the thermometer read “30 degrees.” The point is that a self-consistent system is always usable but only makes sense within its own context. No harm will be done by using either system as long as it is used appropriately. Since a simple transformation function exists between them, any confusion on the part of a user can be cleared up immediately with a mapping function.