A learning objective for this chapter is to understand how creditors evaluate the safety of their claims. Creditors are concerned with a company’s ability to repay its debts. Credit rating agencies exist to help creditors evaluate the ability of a company to repay debts as they become due. The major U.S. credit rating agencies are Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s. A primary means used by credit rating agencies to assess a company’s debt-paying ability is to compare the amount of a company’s debt to the company’s total assets or to its stockholders’ equity. Companies with large amounts of debt on their balance sheets are perceived as more risky and are likely to have lower credit ratings. Therefore, companies have an incentive to understate liabilities, particularly interest-bearing liabilities (i.e., debt)