Our FHR provides an estimated probability of default and is a measure of financial health. We strongly believe that this is a large component of evaluating the viability of a partnership, and encourage you to use our metric in tandem with other tools that provide different viewpoints.
Our metric in particular, which is forward looking, is based entirely and only on recent quantitative data. This is a large part of the reason that our ratings can be compared across industries, life cycles and sizes (as well as public / private spheres).
Therefore, unless a situation or event is so listed in financial statements, and given a numerical value, we are unable to predict the effect on the FHR. We do have the News function on our preview page, and offer you the option of setting News Alerts which will allow you to gain some insight into the qualitative aspects of a company.
We will note that it is generally our experience that qualitative events such as legal action or scandals happen for companies across the risk spectrum, but will very rarely force lower risk companies to default. A part of this is because lower risk companies that operate efficiently tend to quantify any event or situation that may have a material effect, through the form of reserves on the balance sheet or specific cash flow expenditures.
Our Client Services team is happy to discuss the rating further with you, and you may find our Real Analysis Examples helpful in explaining the information we can and will provide.