Moody's Investors Service has placed 7 New York local government general obligation bond ratings under review direction uncertain in keeping with a new requirement for audited financial statements for New York local governments. Obligors were notified of the change in a special comment released August, 1, 2013. The requirement for independently audited financial statements makes the unaudited annual update documents no longer sufficient for maintenance of a Moody's rating.
SUMMARY RATING RATIONALE
The number of New York municipal issuers affected by this change is relatively small, as only 61 out of approximately 1,000 rated New York local governments do not currently provide audited financial statements. The 7 issuers placed on review at this time are the second phase of the transition process given their May 31st fiscal year end (first phase was December 31st issuers). Moody's will likely withdraw the ratings of Issuers who do not provide an audit with 60 days. This action follows a survey period which requested additional information typically found in audited statements to incorporate in our analysis.
The publication "New Requirement for Audited Financials for Rating NY Local Governments" is available on Moodys.com at https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBM_PBM156892
