Merritt Research Service’s Richard Ciccarone takes an in-depth look at chronically late municipal bond issuer audit times by credit sector and individual obligated borrowers. The full report, with a detailed statistical appendix that includes actual best and worst audit report times by sector, is available via the link below.
The analysis provides a credit sector historical breakdown and covers fiscal years 2008 to 2018. The report points to municipal borrowers that have a track record of completing their audits in 90 or 120 days providing positive evidence that the muni market can do better. Statistics collected in the Merritt Research study demonstrate an association between audit time and credit quality as well other factors that often adversely impact audit times. (...)