We conduct ten surveys globally, spanning North America, Latin America, Developed Europe, Emerging EMEA and Asia-Pacific across equities and fixed income. The research data independently captures evaluations of companies, brokers and executives from investment managers, broker firms and corporate issuers, to deliver detailed peer-to-peer comparative analyses every year. Each survey varies in complexity according to the size of the market but they general cover industry, country and macro categories for research, as well as sales, corporate access & trading and the C-Suite for corporates.

An analyst must publish investment research during the period covered by the poll. Each survey is divided into at least two main voting categories: industries and macro. The majority of surveys also include a country voting category. Analysts must be certified pursuant to Regulation AC (or equivalent) to be recognized as winners or team leaders in all industry sectors. (There is no such restriction in the economics and strategy categories.) Winners must achieve a minimum vote count. We will provide guidance on analyst coverage limits in each survey.

Both the firm and individual rankings are determined by a numerical score which is detailed in the methodology document issued for each survey. Votes are weighted by the voting firm’s commission payout, or in some surveys, by the firm’s assets under management. Weighted points are used to create the rankings for each sector. First, second, third and Runner-Up (RU) positions are published. To achieve an RU place, the score must fall within 35% of the third-place score.

Our executive team rankings illustrate how corporate leaders and companies are viewed by investment professionals by both the buy and sell side. We currently publish seven equity perception studies, covering Asia (ex-Japan), Canada, Developed Europe, Emerging EMEA, Japan, Latin America, and the United States.

Investor Relations Officers are invited to participate in the corporate insights survey. As part of this survey, they vote for their top sell side firms and analysts, as well as their top asset managers. In addition, they answer trend questions about IR best practices.