Eu-Ra's know how and skills include the following:

1. staff and people which comprise: a rating committee and a group of financial analysts and researchers with specific expertise s in the field of rating, fundamental analysis, statistical analysis and financial engineering;


2. the Fund Accounting software (patented) which is one of the most successful processes of the enterprise check-up analysis. Through its use it is possible to investigate the financial and economic situation of an enterprise and to determine eventual problems. This system produces a clear picture of the strong and weak aspects of an enterprise and offers the information needed for: a) value estimation of the company; b) fundamental credit rating. The software, after loading accounting information contained in the financial statements of enterprises (balance sheet and income statement), provides a logical reorganisation of the financial and economic data to produce an analysis of sources and application of funds. It operates automatically to obtain fundamental information for modern finance. Cash flow analysis is one of the most important drivers;


3. a model for assessing default of industrial and financial services companies, using financial statement data and off balance-sheet items, developed by Eu-Ra Europe Rating S.p.A., included in a software called Multi Criteria Credit Rating (MCCR) which lead to a fundamental credit rating (or economic and financial profile). The procedure involved in the fundamental credit rating process of Eu-Ra Europe Rating S.p.A. was developed by combining modern numerical data mining with Multi Criteria Decision Making Algorithm (MCDM) and with Corporate Finance theory;


4. a process to assess companies business fundamentals (qualitative elements: shareholders, management, industry risk and competition position, operational diversification, relationships with customers and suppliers, asset quality, future strategies and prospects, funding and liquidity policy, transparent information disclosure, operational risks, organization structure, etc.). This phase of the procedure is elaborated by a specialized analysts team together with innovation methodologies. The combination of fundamental credit rating and the qualitative elements is the so called corporate credit rating;


5. measurement of probability of default and of the transition rates (so called transition matrix) within 1, 2 and 3 years, by using statistical methods. In particular every year Eu-Ra publishes a study called "Investigation report on the fundamental credit rating of Italian companies" which includes also the quantitative measure of ratings performance - the historic ability of ratings to predict default - and the probability of default of Italian companies rated by Eu-Ra Europe Rating;


6. for its activity, an extensive database organized by Eu-Ra Europe Rating is used. This database includes annual financial statements of more then 500,000 private firms operating in industrial sectors and in all Italian regions (company size: annual sales revenue equal to or greater than Euro 100,000; data provider: Bureau van Dijk - database Aida) over the previous ten years. The data cover over 68% of all Italian private companies required to draw up annual financial statement under Italian law (D.Lgs. 127/91) and represent about 95% of sales revenue generated in Italy by private industrial companies (finance, insurance, and real estate sectors are not included).