Personal Development Portfolio (Reflective Account) - Essay Example

The actual process of writing the thesis took many twists and turns and there were long hours spent in accessing databases of stock exchanges and finding the reliable ones from the respectable ones; deciding on the methodology to be used, deciding the structure of the document and how information would be presented and so on. At the end of the thesis, I found that more than just a thesis, I was much richer as I had learnt the elements of conducting good research, how to structure the document, how to remain focussed and write so that the words represented my thoughts and analysis and how to conduct analysis of researched data.

This document relates my experience as a researcher, learner and a student and my dissertation experience. The journey into conducting research for the thesis led me through various paths such as the very nature of equities, stock exchanges, bonds and debt instruments, share price indices, bourses, credit rating companies and other entities. I am glad to say that other than the 70 odd pages of the thesis, I also learn about many things such as how stock are evaluated, what is the nature of credit rating companies and more so, the intense efforts put in by these companies when they take up a debt instrument for rating.

Prior to the thesis, I had very little idea of the methodology use behind rating. But now it is evident that rating agencies conduct very deep research into many aspects of a company such as its history, the nature of the market, history of the promoters, market sentiments and drivers and also variables that act on a debt instrument. The research taken up the teams in rating agencies cover many cross functional areas such as finance, accounts, economics and management and the research can take more than 2 months before a rating is given.

When c company or its financial product is rated, it does not end at that as the rating is under regular