Audited statements are not required
RapidRatings accepts unaudited financial data — including management accounts, internal financials, and draft statements. The rating methodology is sufficiently robust to produce a meaningful and actionable assessment of financial health from unaudited information. Depending on the time of year, audited statements are often still in preparation, and waiting for them delays value for both you and your client.
Interim (quarterly and partial-year) periods are accepted
The most recent interim period should be included in your submission whenever available — more recent data produces a more current rating. RapidRatings rates quarterly (Q1, Q2, Q3) periods as well as year-end (Q4/YE) periods. Interim data is normalized to a trailing twelve-month basis using the methodology described in How RapidRatings Handles Interim Periods.
Key terms
Interim financials — financial statements that cover a period of less than a full year. The most common examples are quarterly financials covering 3, 6, or 9 months. All interim data should be provided on a trailing 12-month basis.
Interim period — a period of time covering less than a year.
Fiscal year (FY) — a company's designated 12-month accounting period. When RapidRatings requests your "most recent FY financials," we mean data for the 12 months ending on your fiscal year-end date.
Year-end (YE) — the last day of a company's fiscal year. YE financials are your Q4 or end-of-fiscal-year financials, depending on when your company or country closes out its fiscal year.
If your financials genuinely aren't ready yet
If you do not have audited, unaudited, or interim data available when you receive a request, you can still start the process. Create your FHR Exchange account (or log into your existing one) as soon as the request arrives and use the Financial Availability Date feature to put your submission on hold until a date you select. RapidRatings will follow up on that date with a reminder to complete your submission.
That said, waiting is rarely necessary. Because unaudited and interim data are accepted, and because QuickSync can pull your latest figures directly from your accounting system in minutes, most members can complete a submission immediately with what they already have on hand.
Language and format templates
If you need a structured template to prepare your unaudited or interim data, RapidRatings offers Excel input templates in multiple languages. See Financial Input Templates to download the appropriate template for your language or region.