The relationship between financial leverage and the company’s credit rating

Developing, commercial organizations modernize the means of production, expand the retail network and assortment. These operations require additional attraction of funds. The lack of own funds for investment is compensated by credit funds, the attraction of which is characterized by a sufficiently high degree of risk, both for the borrower and for the lender. The purpose of the presented research is to develop methodological provisions, as well as their practical implementation to study the impact of financial leverage on the credit rating of commercial enterprises. The paper presents a practical calculation of an integrated approach to the use of credit risk assessment methods when choosing forms and methods of credit risk management. The complexity combines methods of quantitative and qualitative risk assessment, completeness of verified information, and consistency in risk management, which involves the participation of almost all the bank’s personnel in this process.